119 - Mary Silverwood "San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church, Rancho de Taos"

Mary Silverwood, San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church, Rancho de Taos, pre-1996, pastel on black rag paper, 31 X 38 in. framed (29 x 21 in. unframed) Mary Silverwood (1932-2011) received her BFA from the University of Texas, Austin, then did post-graduate work for a teaching certificate. She spent several decades painting the golden hills, redwoods, fir and pine of Sonoma, California. After many visits to New Mexico over dozens of years, she moved to Santa Fe in 2000. Silverwood loved the high desert landscape with its wonderful configurations of mountains, arroyos, mesas, ravines and compact vegetation all enhanced by the beautiful azure sky. Composition and color define her art. Drawing on the various shades and tones of nature, exaggeration is the key to dramatize the emotional nature of her subjects. With hundreds of pastel sticks in her studio, she became one of the foremost pastel artists in the country with numerous honors and a multitude of solo and group exhibitions.