Winter 2014: Artwork

Introduction

Our Winter 2014 edition features four artists who are published by VoiceCatcher for the first time: Katie Todd, Sarah Fagan, Kendall Madden and our Featured Artist, Mary McCarty. Each artist is unique and has a distinctive style and creativity. Katie Todd uses color to draw the viewer into her imaginary horizons. Sarah Fagan combines two pieces of artwork into a single, symbiotic compilation of soothing images. Kendall Madden explores the third dimension with sculptures that invite viewers to share the essence of her creations. Mary McCarty pulls your gaze to individual blooms and leaves using color and texture, challenging you to pick a favorite from her memorable collection.

Rebecca Stuckman Vasquez
Guest Art Editor

Featured Art by Mary McCarty

VoiceCatcher is excited that our featured artist Mary McCarty was willing to share her botanical drawings with us. She works in graphite pencils “for the ability to express the delicate details and for its beautiful silvery sheen” and accents them “with color to draw the viewer closer, to reveal some of natures’ secrets.”

Mary explains, “I love nature when it overloads my senses with riotous colors, heady perfume and shows off with its fantastic shapes and sizes. Even more, I love the secrets that nature hides from the casual observer. There is a wondrous beauty in the special way some plants unfurl their leaves or have beautiful stamens dripping with nectar. I see how their stems hold the flower straight and tall or climb with tendrils wrapped around any nearby object. The details hold the secrets that create the many varieties surrounding us.”

Mary’s first consideration is “finding a plant that evokes a strong emotional response. I love to find interesting shapes and textures in the details. This gives me opportunity to develop a composition that will engage the viewer; to show the excitement and beauty I see in the changing textures from the roots to the blooms. Value is most important as it creates form and volume that changes a flat linear drawing to one that appears realistic. Value gives depth and can capture the curl of a leaf or unfolding of a flower. It brings life, details, so all can enjoy the individual traits of each botanical rendering.”

Mary is a member of Oregon Society of Artists, Oregon Woman’s Caucus of America and North Clackamas Art Guild, where she serves as volunteer and holds several offices. She has been juried into many art shows, placed in several galleries and will be published in Strokes of Genius in 2014. She also enjoys the pleasure of filling commission requests. Her work can be found in private collections in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

Please visit The Art of Mary McCarty to view more of her work.

Enjoy a sampling of Mary McCarty's work in VoiceCatcher's Featured Artist Gallery:

Poetry Multi-faceted, poignant and inspiring. We’ve caught thirteen never-before-published poems by twelve master-class voices.		Prose Five women share their talent and themselves in new, surprising and heartfelt ways.		Artwork Established craftswomen and aspiring visionaries add colorful richness to our most recent issue.		Young Voices The lyrical language of five young poets will delight you.		Contributors Meet the authors and artists who make the Winter 2014 edition a rich, varied and engaging experience.

LETTER FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR POETRY         After the Ice Storm by Linda Strever         Waiting for a Diagnosis by Linda Strever         Anticipation by Penelope Scambly Schott         How to Survive the Loss of Your Best Friend by Diane Averill         Current Conditions by Carol Ellis         For a Hot Shot by Susan DeFreitas         Focal Distance by Jenna Thompson         Bridge by Jennifer Liberts Weinberg         Motherhood by Elizabeth Stoessl         Nice Girl Regrets by Pattie Palmer Baker         Lost Child Lullabye by Tiah Lindner Rephael         To Inhabit the Body by Willa Schneberg         Love Letter by Annie Lightheart PROSE         Like Water and Stones by B.E. Scully         Messages by Mary Mandeville         Fear Jars by Jessica Zisa         Pie by Susan Lehman         Confinement by Valerie Wagner ART         Where the Buffalo and Unicorn Once Roamed by Katie Todd         Midwestern Dreamin' by Katie Todd         Monday's Child by Sarah Fagan         Sweet Tea by Sarah Fagan         The Daydream by Kendall Madden         Beatrice by Kendall Madden YOUNG VOICES         Chinese Mangos by Sophia Mautz         The Bridge by Kate LeBlanc         Ephemeral by Jillian Briglia         The River by Sheila Panyam         Compost by Sophia Mautz CONTRIBUTORS