Mari Andrews: Paperless Drawings

Growing up in Ohio, as one of ten children, Andrews found solitude, solace and expression in art and nature. For nearly 20 years she had been making sensitive, beautiful objects from natural and manufactured materials. Andrews calls her delicate sculptures “drawings”. These objects can be self-contained, or combined into clustered installations. For the most part her three-dimensional drawings are presented on the wall, where individual works relate to and play off one another.

Predominately an installation artist, Andrews credits her years of drawing on paper as the impetus for her work. As a sculptor she freely allows the materials to inform the act of making lines and creating contours that define a particular shape or space. She describes her working process as a “collaboration with found objects”, but it is the direct simplicity of natural materials that is the key to Andrews’ reductive style. Wire, thread, stones, twigs, moss: her work on paper and in sculpture transcends the fragility of these materials to convey a powerful natural energy.

By transforming everyday materials into mysteriously beautiful objects quietly presented for our consideration, Andrews “draws” our attention to the numberless humble fugitive things in our world. The time Andrews spends gathering, cleaning, and storing her objects is part of her artistic process. Her deep engagement with materials both natural and man-made implies continuity with a common source and the unifying energy that flows to us from the world and back again.

Andrews received her MFA at the Otis Art Institute of Parson’s School of Design, LA, CA. She received the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship among other awards and is represented in various galleries and private collections across the country.