Mary Pat Pead: Renewal

Contact: Leslie Bailey
Rhodes College
(864)205-2299

For Immediate Release:


Leslie Bailey and Second Street Studio are delighted to announce the solo exhibition: Mary Pat Pead: Renewal.

Renewal will take place for one night only on Friday April 24, 2009 from 6-9p.m. The reception will be held in the gallery during the exhibit.

Second Street Studio is located at 500 Second Street.

Renewal will feature acrylic paintings of lush, exotic, and atypical organic imagery. The paintings are atypical because the artist uses hybrids and unusual kinds of orchids. Growing up in Florida has led her to use a bright color palette and include tropical subject matter. Renewal has a double-meaning for the artist because it refers to both her process in making art and her journey as an artist. While creating her paintings, Pead strives to alter the reference of the flowers and be inventive. The flowers change from their original state to one that takes shape in her imagination and paint application. Renewal also refers to the drastic change of this series of paintings from her previous work because she hones down a particular subject matter and paints on such a large scale. Pead claims her art has come “full-circle”, meaning she has taking the technical skills that she has learned in Memphis and combined them with the lively, organic imagery from home.

Mary Pat Pead was born in Tampa, Florida in 1987. She attended Berkeley Preparatory School. This May she will receive her B.A. from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee with a degree in studio art. She studied art abroad in Arezzo, Italy at the Accademia Dell’ Arte during the summer of 2007. She has participated in a number of group shows, including the Annual Juried Student Exhibition at Rhodes College the past two years, Tra La Mura in Arezzo, Italy, Concerning Women at Material Gallery, Artists of the 21st Century at the West Tennessee Regional Art Center, the ACS Women’s and Gender Studies Conference 2009, and Martinis and Matisse in Clearwater, Florida. This will be the emerging young artist’s first solo exhibition.

Second Street Studio is owned by Peri Motamedi. This show is organized through the Gallery Management Course at Rhodes College. If you should have any questions please contact Leslie Bailey at 864-205-2299.

JPG information: “detail for Renewal.jpg‎” is a detail Mary Pat Pead’s Cirrhopetalum (Elizabeth Ann), Acrylic on canvas, 2008. The image is courtesy of the artist.