About Mary Louise Learned
Born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1957, to a deaf mother and military father, and raised on the Monterey Peninsula in California, Mary Louise Learned grew up encountering the combined disciplines of sensuality – as manifested by the five human senses – and the ability to work hard. She was introduced to her Buddhist teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche, in 1977, while attending college. Integrating contemplation with art making is a way of life for Learned.
American Sign Language is Mary Louise’s first language; her mother is deaf. This kinesthetic orientation with hands and gestures lead Mary Louise, initially, to a life of dance and physical expression. She has lived in Germany, Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, and Vermont, and currently resides in Boulder, Colorado. The experiences gained from living throughout the world – of horizon lines created by vast oceans and the skies above them or the vertical shafts of trees plumbing mountains – filtered through her own unique sensibility manifest again and again in Mary Louise’s work.
New Directions
After her 2009 solo exhibit, Alchemy of Cloth, Learned took a step back in order to assess her work’s future direction. She dreamt of painting and began studying with Joan Anderson and has, since, made painting her focus. In December of that same year, she sold her first painting. Learned’s first body of painting is called Messy Endeavor and was created using hands and fingers only. No paintbrushes. The abstract images are bold and full of movement with expressive mark making and a unique color sense. In another series of paintings, one resonant with her textile work, Abstracted Landscapes, combines raw canvas and excavated paint revealing the proximity of vulnerability to light and the gravity of black holes.
Learned’s body of work and history of art making practices from early performance art to textiles to her current painting serve as inspiration to all who witness this inspiring artist.