Residency: October 4 – 15  &  November 1 – 17

Sound the Siren Exhibition: November 17 – December 12

I am excited to start my new venture as Bellevue College Resident Artist! I am maintaining a dual purpose residency over the next 6 weeks. While I create artwork, I will host students in conversation about the concepts, inspiration and fabrication of the art and discuss the preparation for exhibition. These conversations will continue through to the exhibit. I look forward to working with students in the sociology, political science and art departments! I will also facilitate voter registration by providing interested students with a QR code, so that they can register online to vote.

---

I explore current topics and memory with a critical eye. I challenge our expectations and social norms in order to analyze their effects on our present state and to consider our future impact. Sound the Siren is artwork examining ideas of social justice. There are tendrils to civil rights, free speech, feminist ideology and a host of other topics. The work has a societal basis and generates conversation about history, empowerment, anger, empathy and integrity.

Learn about Ghost Log and listen to my Ghost Timbre sound collage on this podcast feature with Jack Straw! My exhibit at Jack Straw Cultural Center opens tomorrow, July 8th with a reception at 7pm. I hope you can join us!

Ghost Timbre Exhibition July 8- August 19, 2022

Jack Straw Cultural Center 4261 Roosevelt Way NE

Opening reception July 8, 7-8:30 pm Visit by appointment Mon-Fri 10-5:30. Please schedule all attendance and get details at 206-634-0919 or jsp@jackstraw.org

The City of Tacoma celebrates 2022 Historic Preservation awards and Dickman Mill Park and Ghost Log win Outstanding Achievement in Partnerships Award.

The project also won the Washington ASLA Award of Honor for General Design, Public Ownership. You can learn more about the project here.

A Cross Generational Talk on the Creative Process Listen here

Vashon Center for the Arts

March 10 @ 7:00 pm

Visual Artist Mary Coss will exhibit at the Gallery at Vashon Center for the Arts during March of 2022 in celebration of International Women’s Day. Her feminist perspective and compelling creative work is carried on through her female lineage.

Daughter Roxy Coss is an internationally renowned jazz saxophonist-composer, releasing her sixth album on March 25th, entitled Disparate Parts (Outside in Music). Roxy is also the Founder and President of Women in Jazz Organization (WIJO), which works to level the gender disparity in jazz.

In this debut public exchange, they will discuss their individual and collaborative explorations through the creative process, and examine similarities and differences of how they each transform conceptual ideas of inspiration into finished art.

Both mother and daughter have distinguished voices in their respective fields, creating work with a social conscience while working as activists, mentors and educators. Their parallel careers occasionally cross paths and unfold into artistic collaboration through the lens of a shared aesthetic and value system. They will discuss diverse aesthetic challenges such as maintaining an authentic vision while navigating themes of social justice, reaching and developing an audience through visceral and allegorical means, balancing concept and technique, and their love and fear of pushing boundaries.

Thursday, March 10 at 7pm
$20 General
$17 Youth (18-) or Senior (65+)
$15 Member

Live in the VCA Atrium
This Lecture will not livestream. In-person only

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by one of the Seattle areas thoughtful arts and culture writers, Brangien Davis. She wrote a beautiful article, A ‘Ghost Log’ appears on Tacoma’s Waterfront for Crosscut. The cliff notes are in the PBS video version.

This week I am in Mothership sound studios! Thank you Alma Mater Tacoma. I’m thrilled to explore a new medium…sound, as a new way to approach storytelling. The podcast is called Timbre…lines.

We’re exploring timbre here. That is timbre as in sound, or the character or quality of music or voice. It’s how you recognize the different sounds or voices that you hear. 

We are recognizing different voices of the local people and the communities that rely on the stately cedar tree for sustenance, sanctuary and livelihood as we navigate these waters.

Detail of Silent Salinity: Net Loss

Ghost log installs with a huge 150’ crane on the Tacoma Waterfront.
Read this thoughtful article by Brangien Davis at Crosscut here.

I have received a contract to propose new artwork, a permanent exterior sculpture for the Uptown neighborhood at 100 Roy Street in Seattle.

Rise is an abstracted column transformed into a tree. Columns standing alone read as monuments. In context, they transmit the weight of the structure above to the structural elements below. This is a form of compression that is inherantly contradicted in my design. The column has been released from its physical function and shattered by nature itself, in the form of a tree. The tree seems to have grown within the column and bursts through at its seams. The corten steel artwork combines the built environment with nature.

This “tree” is abstract and represented as lacy cut sheet metal in the form of Cedar Bark. The shoots are tipped with bronze cast buds. The base of the column is cast concrete and reads as an architectural plinth. It serves as a footing and a gathering place for people to sit. It will be lit inside to feature the lacy shadows cast at night, in addition to the natural sunlit shadows of the day.

Public art making is a long process, with many hurdles and challenges. It’s satisfying to finally get through all those hoops and to have a sculpture built that remains true to your vision. I am happy to share that my sculpture Surge, at Bainbridge Island High School, has made it through those hoops. Fabrication is starting. Thanks to Mike Sweney of the Washington State Arts Commission for shepherding me through the process.

Watermark Finalist Proposal:

My sculpture often includes lighting, text, and a combination of bold forms with intricate detail. My contract proposal for the Spokane Library atrium follows these signature principles. The atrium’s varied light conditions continually change under its massive skylights, and are a prime consideration in the design. The library location near Spokane Falls and the architecture of the building are considered parameters.

The local river geology is fascinating. The basalt itself is an intriguing story, created by lava and carved by floods. The architects designed abstract faceted boulders to form structures within the building that reference the falls. The boulders are half of the geologic story. My proposal introduces the other half, the story of the water, in the artwork titled Watermark. These faceted raindrops integrate my bronze text technique. The cursive script creates lace like forms to frame lexan panels of color. The integration of the cursive text provides for an opportunity to add layers of meaning. My proposal uses bits of literature that you find in the library itself, proverbs about raindrops from around the world. 

The first in a series of Artists in Conversation – featuring @meggan.joy and myself @marycoss_studio as we discuss discuss humanity, feminism, art history and more!

New design work for Bainbridge Island! I looked at the wave in the form of a cross section and saw how similar it is to an opening fern frond.   The images follow the golden ratio which describes predictable patterns found in nature. My research led me to propose three monumental scaled cross sections. The first image is a fern unfurling, next waves build up and crash. Water jet cut metal forms the three shapes. Cut words create detail and texture, and deepen meaning. They tell a story of growth and resilience. The three cross-sections sit on a cement wedge, a place to gather. The modern wedge form is cast in concrete and grounds the art in an aesthetic that ties in to the architecture. Stay tuned for more updates!