Mary Willette
Mother Bone
collaged fallen leaves collected on walks with my son when he was an infant
2020
Mother Bone is part of a series of pelvis explorations that I began while I was pregnant and thinking about my relationship with my body and time. A pelvis cradles our intimate histories and creates a portal for our futures. Fallen leaves shared kinship to paper bone signaling the fragile transition to motherhood I was in.
Mary Willette is a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of sculpture and performance. Inspired by the complexity of human relationships, she mines the seemingly mundane functions and structures of her body (breath, tongues, bones, wrinkled skin, etc.) as tools for creating performative gestures and sculptures whose narratives exist within the gaps of verbal communication.
Willette received her MFA from the University of Michigan (2015) and her BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design (2005), concentrating on glass and print media. In addition to her studio practice, she co-founded Fill in the Blank Gallery, an artist-run gallery space, in Chicago, IL, from 2008 to 2011. Upon moving to Michigan, she ran Parlour Room Projects, an alternative gallery in her home, from 2011 to 2012.
Her work has been exhibited in Chicago, the Bay Area, Detroit, NYC, and L.A. She currently lives in Vancouver, BC, where she is pursuing her art therapy degree at the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute.
