Mary Tidy-Coyle is a nationally showing/published artist and curator. She is originally from Philadelphia, PA, where she received her BFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, and her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Currently Tidy-Coyle is a professor teaching Studio Art & Art History and offers private art instruction – while continuing to produce and show her work.
Artist Statements
In my work I am interested in how an environment can influence who we are, and how personal experiences shift perception. By sifting an experience through the creative process – I can record, document and reflect. My process is based on working in a series, in which I explore an idea, or subject, through multiples. My use of materials is based off of my subject matter, allowing me to work in a wide variety of media and techniques; from utilizing technology through filmmaking to something as traditional as painting.
In my Video artworks I am a creator of fiction- a storyteller, giving my audience just enough to compose their own narratives. As artist, filmmaker and actor in my videos I adorn many disguises; nodding to Cindy Sherman. By inserting myself into an invented world my performance as ‘actor’ allows for the re-invention of self, commenting on issues of identity and gender. I have more recently been creating video work in collaboration with international artist Cheryl Maeder, that explores the idea of ‘connection’ – between the self and the environment.
When working in more traditional materials (painting & drawing), I often rely on Art History and the formal elements to guide me. Region Series is an on-going collection of landscape paintings that are based on my travels and living experiences in different regions of the United States. I look to such artists as Richard Diebenkorn, Georgia O’Keeffe, Milton Avery, Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler. While experiencing such diverse landscapes and environments I become inspired creatively, particularly as I ponder our current environmental climate crisis. The idea of a contemporary artist approaching the landscape – a historically traditional subject matter – may seem irrelevant, but I disagree. The landscape has never been more significant, as it is today. The paintings in this series are not of any specific location, but an idyllic filtration of my memories and feelings of an experience. The influence of the above-mentioned Color Field painters shines even more brightly in my Color Series, which is a body of work that explores the emotive effect of color.
Moving into Abstract Expressionist territory is my Palette Series. This is a collection of abstract painted works on paper, based on restriction and limitation. While painting I reduce my palette to a few color choices, and only allow myself to work within a set time frame. I feel that when given restrictions we often become most creative. This work was influenced by Joan Mitchell, Lee Krasner and Grace Hartigan.
In my constructed collages and mixed media paintings I juxtaposes people, places and things, relying on imagination & memory to create an unknown reality; leaving my audience to muse.
I look forward to growing and exploring my artmaking practice in different environments and subjects – I am currently working figuratively on a series of portraits. I have been carefully studying the works of figurative artists, such as Lucian Freud, Alice Neel and Alex Katz to name a few.
Education:
2009-2011 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA, MFA, Summa Cum Laude
2003-2008 Tyler School of Art – Temple University, Philadelphia PA, BFA Painting, Magna Cum Laude
Awards/Honors/Publications
2021 Shoutout Miami Meet Mary Tidy-Coyle, MFA – Visual Artist & Professor
2020 Miami Art Scene Meet South Florida Artist & Curator Mary Tidy-Coyle
2020 Town-Crier Mary Tidy-Coyle Brings Lifelong Love of Art to The Armory Art Center
2019 Miami Art Scene Simulacra
2019 hype.news Simulacra
2013 All Along The Watchtower review
2008 Recipient of the Allen Koss Memorial Senior Portfolio Award in Painting
Exhibitions:
2022
Festival Arts Design Acerenza (FADA), EcoArt Project, Public Art Video Installation (Film Editor & Collaborator), Acerenza, Italy
Repopulations: New Horizons: part of NOoSphere Arts, ‘We are Nature’ Series, Curated by Daniela Holban; Sponsored by Brooklyn Arts Council,(Film Editor & Collaborator), Brooklyn, New York
Art and Culture Center, 2022 Florida Biennial, juried by Ylva Rouse, Senior Curator at MOCA Jacksonville, (Film Editor & Collaborator), Hollywood, FL
Elliott Museum, The Lightness In Being, Video Installation Exhibition (Film Editor & Collaborator), Stuart, FL
Doral Contemporary Art Museum, Women of Vision, Strength & Softness in Motion (Film Editor & Collaborator), Short Films & Video Art Exhibition, Doral FL
International Fine Arts Film Festival, screening Dancing Tree Video Installation (Film Editor & Collaborator), Santa Barbara, CA
NWACC, Correlate Faculty Art Exhibition, Curator & Exhibiting Artist, Spring Arts & Culture Festival 2022, Bentonville, AR
NWACC, linked Exhibition, Curator, Editor, Designer, Spring Arts & Culture Festival 2022, Bentonville, AR
2021
NWACC Shewmaker Center for Global Business Development, Solo Exhibition, Bentonville, AR
Scope Art Fair, Exhibition of Video Installations (editor, art collaborator), Galerie Vivendi/Paris, Miami, FL
Delta Air Lines, Permanent Collection, Exhibition of Video Installations (editor, art collaborator) at Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Los Angeles & LaGuardia/New York Airports
Gallery 526, Showers of Color, Group Exhibition, West Palm Beach FL
Coral Springs Museum of Art, Super Natural (editor, art collaborator), Coral Springs, FL
ArtServe, Changing Landscapes: Art Interventions For A Planet In Crisis, Super Natural (editor, art collaborator), Ft. Lauderdale FL
2020
Palm Beach State College, Faculty Show, Lake Worth, FL
7th Art Film Festival Miami, screening Video Installation Frequency (editor, art collaborator), Miami, FL
Armory Art Center, Armory Faculty Show, West Palm Beach, FL
Art Wynwood/Art Miami, Video Installation Pixel Series (editor, art collaborator), Miami, FL
2019
Armory Art Center, New & Now Faculty Exhibition, West Palm Beach FL
Florida Atlantic University – John D. MacArthur Campus Library, Video Installation The Voyage/Frequency (editor, art collaborator), Jupiter FL
Art Palm Beach, Video Installation Frequency (editor, art collaborator), Palm Beach FL
2018
Pop-Up Faculty Exhibition, Palm Beach State College, Lake Worth FL
Flora Exhibition, featured ‘Enchanted’ – Cheryl Maeder & Diane Arrieta, Video Editor Mary Tidy-Coyle, Cornell Art Museum, Delray Beach FL
2016
3 Year Extravaganza!, ArtHouse429, West Palm Beach FL
2015
CANVAS Outdoor Museum: Local Showdown Kick-Off Exhibition, ArtHouse429, West Palm Beach FL
2 Year Extravaganza!, ArtHouse429, West Palm Beach FL
2014
Sea-ing Vintage, ArtHouse429, West Palm Beach FL
Language Art, Cornell Museum of Art, Delray Beach FL
ADORN: the art that surrounds us, ArtHouse429, West Palm Beach FL
EXPOSURE: the fine art of photography, ArtHouse429, West Palm Beach FL
DETOUR: the fine art of folk, outsider and street art, ArtHouse429, West Palm Beach FL
2013
All Along The Watchtower, Pterodactyl, Philadelphia PA
Love. Sex. Unity. Respect. , Magoski Arts Colony, Fullerton CA
Art Inter/National, Boxheart Gallery, Pittsburgh PA
2012
Intension, Bridge Club of Center City, Philadelphia PA
2011
Containment Policy, Pterodactyl, Philadelphia PA
Liminality and the Ephemera To Enter and Exit, Mark and Unmark, The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum at Ursinus College, Collegeville PA
110th Annual Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA
Venus Delta, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA
2008
The Struggle Within, Tyler School of Art -Temple University, Elkins Park PA