Mary Button
Painter, Sculptor
Painter, Sculptor
“I try to show the excitement felt the moment something captured my attention,” says Mary Button about her art. In many respects, her enthusiasm for it is nearly boundless.
Take her subjects. Her garden, travels and grandchildren are among her favorite starting points as she puts brush and palette knife to canvas to capture the spirit of the moment in oil or acrylic.
And the painting might be just the beginning. She’ll often take its focal point and sculpt it in clay, employing light and shadow, rather than color, to recreate the image.
From that, she might create molds and cast 3-D relief sculptures in bonded bronze, bonded steel or hydrocal.
She might even use the same molds to create Anagama wood-fired stoneware vessels.
“Replicating a piece in a different medium deepens my commitment to the original sentiment,” she summarizes.
Mary herself brings multiple dimensions to the Berks County art scene. Among the things that contributed to her receiving the 2015 Jack Coggins Award for “Creativity, Innovation & Service to the Art Community:”
Take her subjects. Her garden, travels and grandchildren are among her favorite starting points as she puts brush and palette knife to canvas to capture the spirit of the moment in oil or acrylic.
And the painting might be just the beginning. She’ll often take its focal point and sculpt it in clay, employing light and shadow, rather than color, to recreate the image.
From that, she might create molds and cast 3-D relief sculptures in bonded bronze, bonded steel or hydrocal.
She might even use the same molds to create Anagama wood-fired stoneware vessels.
“Replicating a piece in a different medium deepens my commitment to the original sentiment,” she summarizes.
Mary herself brings multiple dimensions to the Berks County art scene. Among the things that contributed to her receiving the 2015 Jack Coggins Award for “Creativity, Innovation & Service to the Art Community:”
- Very active with the Berks Art Alliance, Senior Festival of the Arts and other local art organizations and events
- Accepted into juried shows at Berks Art Alliance, Studio B, Art of Jazz and Penn State Freyberger Gallery
- Exhibited at the Tri-County Art Show, Jewish Community Center, Birdsboro Friends of the Arts
- Studied sculpture with sculptor Richard Summons for 10+ years, plein air workshops with Michele Byrne
- Volunteered as docent at the Reading Museum, scheduled art exhibits for the YR club for 6 years
