Mary Oros

Mary Oros is exhibiting in Cloverdale for the first time this year with “Consensus”. Oros grew up on a wooded property, where she spent much time playing in and around the trees, finding hidden places to crawl into and call her own, at least for the moment. “Consensus” reflects that experience, and draws upon Oros’s recurring theme of protective space – what is allowed in, what is kept out – while maintaining a certain level of openness.

During the making of “Consensus”, Oros was making a lot of decisions in her life and weighing the pros and cons. While her sculpture is visually reminiscent of a grove of trees, it is also reminiscent of a circle of individuals, juggling life’s choices and making sense of them. This gave her the title “Consensus”.  
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Oros’s work is inward-oriented. Each piece begins with an emotion. She declares that when she starts working, she often does not know what the piece is about until it is finished. “I am interested in the pulls of external representation versus the essence of being, and the interconnection between vulnerability and strength,” she explained. “I am often told that my pieces are like beings, which is how I relate to them. I think there is a certain pulsation about them that is similar to a human quality where strength and vulnerability co-exist.”

Her sculptures often involve multiple parts, at which point a story develops when the separate elements stand by each other. It is as if one part evolved from, or was influenced by, the other. There is a suggestion of a natural process, a metamorphosis between the forms as well as the textures. She likes to work in large scale, in relation to her own body, because it enables her to feel as close as possible to having a one-on-one intimate relationship with each piece. “My hope is to have this translate to the viewer, inviting him or her to get close, to touch, and relate,” she concluded.

Photo by Tedd Peterson