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People On The Move - Mary Connell Gaynor
04/26/2010 - By Teja Anderson
FINE ART AND PORTRAIT ARTIST
It’s been a tough year for Mary Connell Gaynor. She lost her beloved mother and two of her four sisters as well as her faithful companion, the cocker spaniel “Angel” over the past 12 months. But although she is understandably a little glum Mary is mostly introspective as she talks about her life, her art and her anticipation of a new puppy.
Mary grew up in Rhode Island but moved with her parents to Lincroft then Rumson when she was in eighth grade where she attended Forrestdale and then Rumson-Fair Haven H.S. She started her art degree at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia but finished it a few years later at Monmouth College (now Monmouth University). Mary and her husband Bobby Gaynor settled in Rumson where they raised their two sons; R.J. (26) and Brent (23). It is here that she has her studio and has created a name for herself in the world of fine art and portraits.
“My earliest memories are of making artwork. I still love the smell of crayons and Midnight Blue is my favorite; I’m sure there is a coloring book within five feet of us right now,” she says laughing. But it was at the 1964 World’s Fair when as a little girl Mary saw Michelangelo's Pieta* that her life changed in a profound way. “I felt like I had been given a gift that day. I still have the little plastic souvenir replica.”
For the past twenty-five years Mary has worked steadily as a portrait artist and has not had a day go by when she wasn’t working on a commissioned piece. She hasn’t had to advertise; her work is her calling card. “When people see a portrait of a child and they know that child and they know that I have captured that child then the work speaks for itself.” Mary’s works is not just local. Although she does tend to work with families and friends of families, as families spread out and move her client base has expanded. She has even done a portrait for famed anthropologist Jane Goodall!
The process usually starts with a digital photography session, sometimes more than one, until she gets the photo(s) that the mother or sometimes grandmother can agree on. Once loaded on to her computer and projected onto a large screen, it is just as if the subject is sitting for her live - without all the fidgeting. This is especially useful when it comes to animal portraits, which she recently found she also has quite a talent for. Although animals are a bit more time consuming they are less difficult than people in the long run.
Once when working on a wildlife mural at the top of the gym climbing wall at her old alma mater Forrestdale, she made the comment to fellow artist Broeck Steadman that she found working on mountain lion cubs to be so much easier than humans. He enlightened her, “That’s because the mother mountain lion doesn’t need to be able to recognize that baby cub and feel proud or happy.” Being a mother herself she understands, joking that she has a master’s degree in dealing with mothers and realizes that they need to feel the photo before she starts her sketch. “You won’t find me painting a picture of a house or something of that nature. I like to reflect life; I like when it comes back at me from the drawing.” Although Mary does paint with oils, which make her subjects amazingly life-like and vivid, most of her pieces are done in pastels. “When it covers the whole canvas it is a painting and when some of the canvas is showing it is a sketch,” she says. As pastels are easily smudged, she is careful to have her portraits covered in glass and hopefully framed before she ships or delivers them to her clients. Sometimes repairs are necessary but after one of her very first customers warned her about the cleaning dangers of Windex® she is vigilant to get her pieces covered as soon as possible.
It is impossible not to notice that Mary has one bluish green eye and one partially brown one. “My mother told me that it was an exclamation mark growing up, and then when I was in college they used it as an example of a mutated gene,” Mary chuckles. Whatever the reason there is little doubt that her eyes see into the pure essence of all of her subjects, from well heeled children to Highland cows.
* This famous work of art depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion.
You can view Mary’s artwork at www.maryconnellgaynor.com
STATS
FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
Zoe, Little Silver
FAVORITE MUSIC
XMRadio’s 60s channel
FAVORITE MOVIE
“Funny Girl”
PET PEEVE
People who are late
THREE PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH
My mother and both my sisters, who passed away this year.
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