MARY COURTNEY
ART - POETRY
drawing n digital with a poetic twist
"I like to hole up in my cave and draw.
Direct to the page with a pen. I lose track of time
on Photoshop. Dabble in ink, mixed-media and paint - But pen and paper has the strongest lure."
Characters of the Elements
The big four year project - creating characters - personalities with poems - from the building blocks of the universe: the 118 elements of the Periodic Table is now complete. Among these are Chlorine the Killer Clean, with all life swiped in her halo, Sneaky Arsenic, Argon can't be Arsed, Hydrogen Hooligan and Germanium the Gerbilish - Dervilish. The Trojan Nitrogen and Oxygenie were selected for the Coventry Drawing Prize. The plan is to fully exhibit this giant drawing-poem (70ish metres) in 2021.
"Image and word feed each other"
The idea was crystallising himself
This drawing, and the chemistry image by Maria Adobes-Vidal that inspired it, made it into the journal:
Big Draw Events Inspired by Coventry
Bringing people together for free drawing in the community - joining to make one giant creation together in one afternoon. These events attract people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds. The Earlsdon Mappa, The Coventry Mappa Magnificellaneous and The Coventry Elephantastic had over 200 participants at each - all drawing events inspired by Coventry: the geography, the iconic ring road and the elephant symbol of the city. Small version copies of these giant maps are in hundreds of homes in Coventry.
Click on the purple links above to see the time-lapses and drawings.
Spon End Community Drawing
At the Rose Community Centre, people drew places and memories of Spon End and doodled elephants, butterflies and trees - all as part of the Big Draw for the Spon Spun Festival. Moira's Wet Fish Shop, the Black Horse, carnation milk with tinned peaches, clocks and a grumpy subway, were joined together by the Coventry Chain. The finished piece was shown in the City Arcadia Gallery and the CET building.
Re-imagining a Bee: Creative Drawing at the Uni
The task was to re-imagine a bee - create something never seen before - with only three criteria - it must have wings, stripes and a sting.
Students, professors and admin staff from the sciences and humanities joined in these creative thinking-drawing workshops at the University of Warwick. Thirty of the creations were included in the Being Objective animation.
