Book Artist, Ceramicist, and Printmaker Mardy Sears with Jamie Thome

On 23 July, 2020, we visited Evanston-based artist Mardy Sears. She is a printmaker, ceramicist, and artist book maker.

After graduating with a Masters in Fine Arts from The Center for Book and Paper Arts, Columbia College Chicago in 2006, she began working as a Conservation Technician with a focus on paper at The Art Institute of Chicago.  

Mardy’s visual language includes images of animals, primarily birds and sea creatures. Her animals tell stories of humanity and connect our everyday lives to the environment we live in. She incorporates text and poetry into her image making, that is often presented in book format. Her visual texture is influenced by the objects she works with at her job at the museum. Worn and aged surfaces such as joined sheets of paper and early book structures, which may be sewn, mended, and stained, are evident in her objects.  

At the Art Institute of Chicago, she spends her days framing works on paper for exhibitions and loans - which may play a part in her preference for making objects. Her ceramics are utilitarian and her prints and drawings are made to be handled. Sketches can be pulled from envelopes, books perused, and boxes opened to see what they contain. 

If you would like to know more about Mardy’s work, please visit:  

https://evanstonmade.org/projects/mardy-sears/ 

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