Deciding what I really wanted to do, and doing things I have always wanted to do but never dared has felt encouraging. Researching insects led to taking UV photos to see how they see flowers, and to making cardboard flowers with phosphorescent paint to see if they would be attracted to them. However, by studying other artists work I discovered that there are repeated signifiers in my previous work. They centre around transience, transparency, movement, speed and colour, which all relate to ephemerality.

During Lockdown, I had a growing awareness of the nature of the transience of life – my tulips dying, my cat dying, the growing numbers of daily deaths due to Covid19, writing letters to people whose parents had died, my avoidance of writing a will, Cherry blossom appearing (it signifies the ephemerality of life), not to mention my great clear out at home, and having to make decisions about things from my past that have emotional meaning.

I think that there are two outcomes from my Hatchery work. The first image shows the use of a new range of colours and abstraction; and the last image can be viewed as relating to ephemerality.

Artist Biography:

Mary Hayes is a printmaker/painter living in Nottingham. Her studio is at Leicester Print Workshop (LPW). As a teacher Mary printed in school with children. She first learned etching at Tisbury in Wiltshire and subsequently joined LPW, later studying for a degree in Contemporary Fine Art at Nottingham University. Her final degree show used lighting as pure colour. Mary has shown her work in group exhibitions in the East Midlands, Germany, Greece, France and Northern Ireland, and had solo exhibitions in Nottingham.

Art Practice:

Mary’s interest is colour through light with reflections and distortions. Photography helps to notice and highlight layers and distortions. Mary has learned the principles of most types of printing, but particularly enjoys etching and solar plate. She recently learned about disperse dyes on fabric. This method produces stunningly bright colours. Drawing and painting are important parts of her practice, layering the two with monoprint or collage. She also likes to look for different objects in the pursuit of interesting marks.

Mary Hayes

Artist Biography:

Art Practice:

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