Art Source
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Dr. Mary Ann Stafford - Artist and Educator A large family and teaching career kept me from pursuing a serious career in the fine arts until retirement in 1993. My education credentials include a BSE and MA degrees in English; art hours from Kansas City Art Institute and the University of Arkansas, and an EdD in Secondary Education with an emphasis in art education. I taught high school English, humanities, and art for sixteen years, was an assistant principal for five years, and was Staff Development Coordinator at the Arkansas Department of Education until retirement. Since then, I have been painting full time and have taken several workshops from nationally recognized artists, including Doug Dawson, Daniel E. Greene, Sally Strand, Carole Katchen, Gerald Brommer, and Skip Lawrence. Still an educator, I conduct pastel painting and drawing workshops throughout Arkansas, as well as teach drawing classes and private students in my studio. I have been juried into many regional and national shows and featured in solo shows in Fort Smith, El Dorado, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Stuttgart, and Hot Springs. Currently my work is on display at the Cox Creative Center and Gallerie Bailey in Little Rock, The Gallery in Harrison, Eurekan Art in Eureka Springs, Frameworks in Conway, and Cheers Restaurant in Maumelle, Arkansas.. I enjoy working with watercolor, collage, and mixed media, but pastel is my chosen medium. This is because pastel is both a drawing and painting medium, and I love to do both. The versatility and immediacy of the medium are most appealing to me; my favorite method of working is layering hard and soft pastels over an underpainting. I am currently in a transition, trying to simplify shapes and play colors against each other. I am also experimenting with colored pencil and silverpoint drawings. My husband and I are members of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church in Little Rock, where I serve as choir member and substitute organist. Arts organizations to which I belong include the Mid-Southern Watercolorists, Arkansas League of Artists, Conway League of Artists, and I am a founding member of the Arkansas Pastel Society. I received signature membership in the Pastel Society of the Southwest (Texas) in 2006. I received signature membership in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists in 2008. A member of the Maumelle Arts Council, I have been coordinating an arts education program for area schools using volunteer artists from Maumelle. In addition, a good bit of my time is spent baby-sitting with some of our 25 grandchildren.
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