Mary Michael Shelley
Painting, Visual Artist
1950 –
Who is Mary Michael Shelley?
Mary Shelley is an American folk artist with no formal visual art training. Her art work has variously been described as naïve, primitive or self-taught. She graduated from Cornell University in 1972 with a degree in English and Creative Writing, and has lived her entire adult life in Ithaca, NY. She began making her painted low relief woodcarvings in 1974, after her father sent her a painted woodcarving that he made of Shelley as a child at the family farm. Shelley worked as a sign painter and carpenter from 1973 to 1990, and learning these trades helped her to develop woodworking and design skills important to her evolution into a visual artist.
Her work was shown at the Jay Johnson Folk Heritage Gallery from 1976 through 1990 when the gallery closed. From the start of her career until 2008, she has produced upwards of 2000 painted and carved wooden reliefs.
Shelley calls her work a “picture story” or “picture diary”. Many of her pieces are concerned with narrative, the telling of a story, the recording of an event. Shelley plays with metaphor, using cows and waitresses as stand-ins for her life experiences and feelings as a woman.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- 1950
Doylestown - Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- Cornell University
- Lived in
- Doylestown
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Mary Michael Shelley." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/mary_michael_shelley>.
Discuss this Mary Michael Shelley biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In