Mary Lou Hurley

Human beings have a problem. Our curiosity has inspired creativity and our humancentric march has evolved to a point where we are now making extraordinary, unsustainable demands on nature. Technological advancements have dramatically altered our connection to nature and to each other. Physical connections are becoming abbreviated and giving way to electronic ones, isolating the individual and resulting in loneliness. The overwhelming banquet of information at our fingertips is unstoppable and inevitable. In the end, our existence will likely be determined by how much we value our relationship with nature and each other. The mannequin ‘Napoleon’ personifies this struggle.

All my life I have been powerfully attracted to art and its’ unique ability to illicit human emotion. For the last 20 years, I have been creating mixed-media mosaics in my home studio in Caledon East, Ontario. It is my hope that my mosaic art challenges viewers to explore the unusual use of substrate, color, and tesserae. Most often they will detect a provocative metaphor and find pleasure in the unexpected. Most recently I’ve enjoyed the unlikely canvas that a mannequin provides. The human form can provide a surprising mirror to the self.