MARY-ANN KOKOSKA
MARY-ANN KOKOSKA
Mary-Ann Kokoska’s art practice reveals an inquisitive interest in nature and landscape, encompassing aspects of beauty and power, as well as global warming and human land management. Her primary medium is drawing, using a variety of media and approaches from detailed observational drawings to expressive abstract installation pieces.
She states:
‘For me drawing is an inquisitive and expressive action that begins with making a “mark”. Its immediacy and malleability allow me considerable freedom in my creative response to the subject at hand.
I frequently begin with direct sketching, interwoven with aspects of memory and imagination. This is my point of inspiration and informs the work to come. In times when such a traditional process is neglected in place of new technology, drawn observations continue to be important to me.
My approach allows a cognitive mimesis that operates mindfully and speculatively through seeing, thinking, relating, and remembering. It is about looking at and looking through the subject at hand together with a new understanding and questioning.’
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Mary-Ann Kokoska was born in Toronto, Canada. Her education includes an MFA from Concordia University in Montreal, a BFA from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, as well as an Advanced Certificate from the St. Martin’s School of Art in London, England.
She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in commercial and public galleries, and alternative artist-run centers. Some of these are located in: Toronto, Montreal, New York , Denver, London, Wales, Prague, Italy. She is currently a member of the Artnauts Collective as well as an alumni member of A.I.R. Gallery, NY. Her work can be found in corporate, private, and public museum collections.
Ms. Kokoska is also the recipient of awards from the Canada Council, The Ontario Arts Council and Colorado State University where she is currently a Professor of Drawing in the Department of Art and Art History.