CRITTERS!

Mary McFerran is a new resident in the Catskills. She is adjusting to the saturation of nature and beauty surrounding her. Eco dyeing local plants has helped her to acclimate.

McFerran has degrees in Fashion, Art Education, Printmaking, Expanded Arts, and Educational Technology. She shows her work in NYC, the Hudson Valley and the Catskills.

In this series, I gather plants and rocks from my home landscape and create eco dyes on repurposed fabric. I also print with rusted objects and assemble sculptural combinations with the elements. The works are often bound together with twine in order to connect them physically and symbolically. I am interested in the way these forms are culled directly from earth’s bounty and remind us of our interdependence with the environment.

Utrecht, where she developed a deep foundation in traditional etching and lithography. Early in her career, she received a travel grant from Kunstliefde to study Piranesi’s prints in Italy and a grant from the Dutch Cultural Council to establish her own print studio, where she collaborated on artist portfolios and books.

‍

Until 1985 she taught drawing and printmaking at high schools and a maximum-security prison in Utrecht, while exhibiting her work widely in the Netherlands. After moving to New York in 1985, she co-founded Hudson Street Press in Tribeca, publishing and exhibiting prints until 2001. Since relocating her studio to Roxbury, NY, in 2006, she continues to teach and create work exploring the transient nature of animals and landscapes through embroidery, monoprinting, and painting.