Mari grew up in Philadelphia, and graduated from Moore College of Art and Design. She earned a BFA in Fashion Illustration and Advertising. Mari spent ten years as a Digital Product Designer for Lenox Brands before getting married and moving to Southern New Jersey, where she established her studio.

 

One of her more notable artworks was a lifesize fiberglass cow for the Harrisburgh CowParade, entitled "Constance the Constitution Cow" -- a public art piece where she penned the phrase "A Cow for the People" and handscripted the words of the US Constitution onto its back.Mari is currently working on a series of floral inspired sculpted vases.

 

Artist Statement

 

Some of my best design inspirations have come from personal conflict, and inner self exploration of who I am as a person and as an artist.  I can be inspired by the most minute of details.  I can take a tiny concept and convey a more complex ideal. Using clay I can develop these ideas into physical form. 

 

I want people to feel my work and when they see it to have a visceral emotional response. I like the idea of reinterpreting nature on a level that’s more sculptural, primal. I love the idea of taking a naturally hard medium like ceramics and making it appear soft and pliable. I love bringing characters to life, and history to life when I sculpt artifacts. I've just started working on a series of sculpted floral vases that capture the essence of my sculpting style and personality.

 

I love the feel of clay on my hands. I love the texture, the color, I actually get inspired by the clay itself – its plasticity or rigidity. As with porcelain, its ability to become opaque or translucent fascinates me.

 

For the first time I can see myself in my sculptural vases. I can see different aspects of my persona. There is a strength, yet an implied sense of sensuality. There is the illusion of weakness, movement, a captured moment of vulnerability, born within an object that has invariably passed through the fire and been made stronger.