From the Inside (and out): Climate Change
After a spring break that (a few of) the UMCA staff had the privilege to experience, we are back and running with a bit of an unconventional post. One of our interns, Zoe, visited her grandma in Florida over break and was enthralled with the idea of exposing the intimate ideas and reflections of an artist born in the height of the Great Depression whose works span almost half a century. Mary Francis was born into great poverty in Tennessee circa 1930 and upon meeting her husband, Lou Balint, moved around the country to finally settle in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts with her three children. At age 36, after commenting on how simple a sculpture at her daughter's daycare seemed to be, a woman present sarcastically proposed she do it herself. This joust prompted Mary to enroll in art classes here at UMass Amherst where she planned to major in sculpture and minor in psychology. Here she gained experience but ultimately left after the director of the department responded to her hesitance to enroll in additional classes with "Oh, so you're a housewife". In 1966. At the height of the second wave of the feminist movement.
Mary transferred to Berkshire Community College and opened a gallery by the name of "The Artist's Collective" on the first floor of her house in Hinsdale, MA. Here the likes of 10 artists were modestly represented on a "seasonal" basis, because as Mary says, the summer would bring parents from New York dropping their kids off at camp and looking for ways to busy themselves. With time her kids grew up and moved on steering Mary + Lou towards a new life in Florida. A former engineer for G.E., Lou thoroughly enjoyed helping Mary maneuver and install her copper sculptures with their heavy platforms, one of which, "The Nest", was installed in the County Courthouse in Punta Gorda, Florida, and another, "Flight", in a private home of a Sarasota, Florida resident.
To wrap up a perhaps over-extended yet endearing biographical account of the artist and grandmother to move on to the piece under analysis, we present a contemporary work "Global Warming" done in 2009. During her chats with Mary, Zoe became quite aware of and surprised at the fact that after 20 years of residence in an exceptionally conservative county, her grandma has maintained one of the most liberal and experimental attitudes Zoe has experienced (and the latter is constantly surrounded by college students!). This piece constitutes a thorough salute to Mary's interests in expressing absurdities and controversies of the times. What gives the work such an intense, almost violent air? The color. Mary is drawn to primary colors, which she layers to then create a "free roll" across the canvas. It is through the "heat" of the white space that she expresses her outrage at the fact that serious environmental problems do not garner more attention; it shows her fear that political systems will not compromise and work together to solve these problems before it is too late, let alone in her lifetime.
It has been a true honor for Zoe to discover in depth and on a personal level the inner workings of her grandmother's history, mind and modes of expression. Let it be a lesson to all of us interested in contemporary art that unknown artists at times merit as much respect, interest, and contemplation as world renowned ones. They are as important an aspect of the art world in that people like Mary exercise discipline, pride and freedom of expression in the face of inner emotions and societal changes, regardless of production level and profit. They show us the true meaning of art by depicting the foundation, dedication, and creativity needed to succeed personally and at times professionally. Mary's passion and intensity characterize her establishment as a contemporary artist and content with her 82 years of life. We hope this has provoked all of you as it has us, and invite you to share feedback and ideas/works of artists close to you on our facebook page.
Mary by a sculpture that has managed to stay in her hands, nestled between the pool and the bougainvilleas at her home in Venice, Florida
Mary Balint, Global Warming, 2009
