It somehow seemed appropriate to interview painter Maureen Clark outside, and when you experience her work, you’ll know why. Maureen was always interested in art as a child, and her family encouraged her to study at Columbus College of Art of Design, where here uncle graduated. She had different plans, though.
After graduating from high school, she decided that the rigorous academic course of study at CCAD was not for her, and opted instead to study audio/video production at Columbus State Community College. The combination of having to work her way through college (hence taking longer to complete), and changes in the program resulted in her abandoning that plan and traveling instead, bartending, and working with Irish festivals. She finally made it to Philadelphia, and it was there that she reintroduced herself to her art.
When Maureen first rediscovered painting while living in Philadelphia, her work came out very dark, even incorporating cigarette ash and tobacco in her paintings. “It was just kind of a gludge of all the emotions,” she reflected. After finally returned to Columbus in 2014, Maureen started thinking about painting regularly. The more she worked, the lighter her work became. She started to paint the happier parts of her time in Philadelphia, and then mustered enough courage to post some work on a local Facebook group, The Art and Artists of 614, not knowing what the response would be. Much to her surprise, her work was well-received, and the encouragement helped her to continue.
For the most part, Maureen has worked with acrylic paint. She has dabbled with oils, but told me that the oil paintings she has started have all remained unfinished. “With the way I paint now, which is kind of fast, it makes more sense for me to use acrylic. You can also add something to it to make it really thick, almost like plaster, and then just thin it out with water. It’s very versatile.”
To me, the work of self-taught painter Maureen Clark is optimistic and hopeful. “I think that just comes out from who I am,” she said. “There are always going to be hard things in everyone’s life, but it’s the overcoming that’s really beautiful.” Maureen and I looked at a painting that she brought to share with me, a tattered ship emerging from the fog. “It still has its flags up. It’s been through some stuff, but it’s coming out of the fog. It’s still standing.”
“I can sit there and paint how I feel, when I’m feeling down all day,” Maureen reflected, “but I don’t want to sit with it. Maybe it would be nice at least to do that and then to burn it, but I don’t feel like it’s something that I need to have in the world as my message.” We mused about discussions revolving around the validity of “pretty art.” “Just because I’m not saying something political, or I’m not showing the harsh, ugly part of life, doesn’t mean that I’m not trying to say something to the world.”
Maureen and I spent some time talking about the relationship between artist and client when the work is commissioned. She agreed that communication abilities definitely affect the outcome, and sometimes, even with her best efforts, clients have ended up displeased with the finished product. We also discussed the importance of the client being familiar with the style of the artist. When clients make requests for work outside her typical genres and styles, she prefers to refer them to other artists who would better be able to meet their request. “For instance, Maureen recounted a story of a request for graffiti art. “Just because I do murals doesn’t mean I’m a graffiti artist!”
Maureen has a beautiful mural at Gravity in Franklinton, on the west side of the building. I enjoyed hearing her talk about the process of creating the bouquet of flowers on a pastel blue background, which took her a total of about eight hours over the course of two evenings. “For this one, did you start with a plan, or a sketch,” I asked. “No, I didn’t!” was her reply. It was fun to learn about how she created the background. “I was doing the background with white, and two shades of blue, and I wanted it to be kind of soft, cloudy, pillowy.” She used three different pans of paint with rollers to quickly combine the colors and achieve the effect. Fellow artist Lucy Shearer was working alongside her at the same time, and said, “you could just stop at that!”
Maureen and I talked about how well her mural at Gravity reads from about 25 feet away, where most people (who would be in their cars, pulling into a parking lot or the garage) would enjoy it. The details of the mural have a beauty all of their own as well, and I love seeing how the miniscule cracks in the paint contribute to the overall texture of the flowers in a very organic way.
“Slow down, take a breath, embrace the evolution, and soak in all the goodness it brings.” I can’t think of any better words to sum up Maureen’s work than those included on a plaque at her Gravity mural. “It starts with me doing this, saying it to myself, and then the fact that other people can resonate with that, makes me feel really connected.”
Thank you, Maureen, for helping us to stop and breathe.