Mary Connell (b. 1995, Hyannis, MA) earned her BFA at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She has shown her work in New York City, Upstate New York, Providence, RI and the Greater Boston area with her first solo show in 2021 at the Arts Research Collaborative in Lowell, MA. Connell earned her MFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI in 2025. In addition to maintaining her creative practice, Mary currently teaches at MassArt and works at RISD as an Imaging Lab Assistant in the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab. She spends her free time tending to her garden and houseplants and hanging out with her cat, Ginkgo and partner, Dana.

Using frequently overlooked materials such as plaster, paper scraps, dirt, trash, and other found materials, Mary Connell’s recent work reflects on her relationship with her every day surroundings. She often collects materials while walking, taking mental notes of color combinations, weather conditions, and scraps of overheard conversations or poetic phrases said by loved ones as she goes. Plaster pulls these assorted materials into fleeting, abstract moments of color, form and space that help Mary maintain a sense of presence within the seasonal New England landscape. Through these materials, Mary’s work attempts to find a balance between a gritty physicality and an immersion into a hidden parallel world. These works, when successful, become intimate microworlds that, despite their small and humble nature, invoke a sense of awe. They have an illusionistic atmosphere that contradicts the solidity of the painting as a sculptural object. Mary’s creative practice attempts to evoke a sense of care and attentiveness that is quieter and slower by nature, revealing themselves over time.