MY MOTHER, MYSELF AND THE ARTIST watercolor on clayboard 06, from a dream SOLD Welcome to Stow Studio, 2009! My recent interests have been dreams, metaphor,the Divine Feminine/Earth Mother, energy medicine, and clayboard as a medium. More on my bio and process below on this page. 2008 brought a new dimension to my life in the form of a cancer diagnosis; my energies last year were devoted to dealing with it and I am recovering via alternative therapies. Actually cancer has been an amazing wake-up call.   For the last two summers I participated in a week-long visionary art workshop with Alex and Allyson Grey at Omega Institute, and plan on doing so again this year. A MOST EXCITING CATALYST FOR A GREAT LEAP FORWARD!! TO VIEW MY JOURNAL, PHOTOS AND ART I MADE WHILE THERE in 2007, CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO THE RIGHT, A FEW PICTURES BELOW, OF THE GROUP SHOT TO ACCESS THE BLOG.     Below is a brief explanation of my Divine Feminine work.   Swimming With the Goddess   The word METAPHOR literally means “transformer, the crossing over from one state to another”, and has been described as “a physical picture indicating a spiritual condition”. They are messages of deep truths. Metaphors as such arise spontaneously from deepest places in ourselves, and appear not only in our dreams, but come to us in physical form, both individually and collectively, in synchronistic ways. The occurrence of metaphor is seen largely as a right-brained, intuitive, feminine event, and so could be read as manifestations of and messages from the Goddess, herself a metaphor for the Divine Feminine. As metaphor, swimming implies being immersed in the unconscious yet with the head above water, bringing the unconscious to awareness; hence the theme of my new work.     Ideally, I derive my images as they come to me in dreams or spontaneous impressions - those are the best, as they are truly metaphors from the unconscious. Most recently, I am training in energy medicine, in part, to have access to that visionary, mythic realm at will. Alternately, they spring from a creative response to my research and reflections.   Prehistorically, Goddess worship and creative, generally peaceful, woman-centered cultures were predominant. Archeological evidence shows the lack of weapons and fortresses, and reveals a proliferation of goddess icons. That changed even by the time of Ur and Sumer, when hoardes of war-like male-god tribes invaded over & over. They eventually established dominance, subjugated and attempted to annhilate the Goddess, who was the first and primal expression of the Divine that humans worshipped. But She has not gone away: She shows up in myth, fairy tale, minor Goddesses of, for example, Hinduism, and in Marion worship. Her Energy is unmistakable in dreams. I recommend exploring this further.  The Cosmic,Feminine Divine as a metaphor offers a cyclical world view of creating, nurturing, necessary destruction and rebirth, both symbolically and literally. Good and evil are matters of imbalance and ignorance, not of eternal opposition. My new body of work attempts to explore and describe this.     Today, the natural, complementary cosmic energies of masculine and feminine are out of balance, with male energy running rampant and out of control. From emotional and physical subjugation and violence against women (and children), ecological ravaging of our mother and only nurturer, the Earth, the insane notion that war will create ‘peace’ (read: controlled world empire), to emotional, psychic and spiritual illness almost the norm, I fear for our collective future with the current patriarchal dominator culture. I believe the two energies must find proper relationship for us to not just survive but to be truly whole.   My art is my contribution to manifesting this change.   Enjoy my site, stop back to see what's new! Feel free to email me, just type 'stow studio' in the subject line. Also, my home studio is open by appointment. Please note that all images are copyrighted and may not be used without my permission. CHURCHYARD CEMETERY watercolor on clayboard 05 DRY DOCK watercolor 04 SOLD KINGFISHER, SQUARED # 2 watercolor on clayboard 2006 SOLD

ORACLE watercolor on clayboard 2006 collection of Linda Randall MORNING SUN, SIDE YARD 05 watercolor on clayboard SOLD DUNE FENCE SWEEP 05 watercolor on clayboard My space at the Artisan Guild in Oneonta They will soon have a website! the Artisan Guild in Oneonta, NY great stuff! That's my 'artist of the month' display in the first window... Check out Alex Grey's site here Group Picture, Alex Grey Visionary Intensive click on pik to go to my art intensive page and blog Night Life watercolor on clayboard 06 Exhibits, Biography my booth at a show.... soon I'll make a page for the original watercolor bird ornaments that I create... My Gallery The Archives (older artwork) Maryann's MySpace page, entitled, 'heart protectress'... enjoy the experience! Upper Catskills Community Council for the Arts (UCCCA) click to go to UCCCA website Wilber Mansion, home to the Upper Catskill Community Council for the Arts Come see me in Oneonta! Click to link to website.. Cooperstown Art Association, click to go to site I have artwork, cards and ornaments at CAA from Nov 9 thru Dec 26 at the annual Holiday Show Cooperstown Art Association TWO PEARS watercolor on clayboard 06 SUNLIT WALL ON CANYON ROAD watercolor on clayboard 06 EL SANTUARIO DE CHIMAYO watercolor, New Mexico series 2006 KASHA KATEUWE (WHITE CLIFFS) watercolor 2006 New Mexico Series SANTA FE WALL watercolor New Mexico series 06 CLOUDY DAY, RAVEN watercolor, New Mexico Series 06 CHIMAYO HARVEST watercolor New Mexico series 06 ELEMENTS DE LA MER watercolor on clayboard 05 INHERITRESS (THE TRUTH ALWAYS REMAINS) watercolor & ink on clayboard 07 my response to research on the Virgin of Guadalupe's origins EARLY SNOW # 1 watercolor & acryllic on clayboard 05 EARLY SNOW #2 watercolor & acryllic on clayboard 05 SOLD WEAVERS watercolor on clayboard 07 from a dream

Her-Own-Woman Invites You from a dream SOLD GATE-KEEPER watercolor on clayboard 2006 inspired from a dream. Not for sale. SWIMMING WITH THE GODDESS a progression of goddesses BITTY IN A BASKET watercolor on clayboard 2006 collection of the artist YOU HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE watercolor on clayboar Nightlife, detail HEART PROTECTRESS watercolor on clayboard 2007 on display at Artisan Guild, Main St, Oneonta, NY THE MAGIC PURSE mixed media 2007 from a dream DUKKHA CAT watercolor on clayboard 2006 another dream, after my cat was clipped by a car "The Joy of Flying in a Wedding Dress, Holding a Tortilla" watercolor on clayboard 2006, another dream VOLITION watercolor on clayboard 06 SOLD, from a dream EARLY SNOW # 3 watercolor on paper 05 SOLD DIVINE ABODE OF THE GREAT MOTHER watercolor & sumi-e ink on clayboard 07 SOLD SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MORE, TO CLICK ONTO OTHER PAGES OF OLDER ARTWORK AND TO VIEW MY FULL BIO.. Scrambled Catholic 2005 ahh the struggle between inner good and evil!, watercolor and water-soluble crayon Ruby Reds 2007 mixed media on clayboard, a take on the sacred femine trinity as seen in The Wizard of OZ Elephant Story 2007 mixed media on clayboard.. a dream response to elephant matriarchal society breakdown Neolithic Primus 2007 watercolor on clayboard, scratched... a tribute to the neolithic goddesses VOICE (Warrior Woman, You KNOW What to Do!) 2007 watercolor and water-soluble crayon on clayboard SOLD

BLACK LAUNDRY

watercolor on clayboard 06 SOLD

"Frog Hunters" watercolor & caran d'ache 2005

Watercolorist Maryann Stow majored in studio art at the State University of New York at Oneonta in the 80's. A longtime resident of the Oneonta area, she moved to Cape Cod in 1987,studied under various Cape artists for another two years, and began to establish her art career. Having returned to New York in 2000, her watercolor subjects have included landscapes of Upstate New York, New Mexico and Cape Cod, as well as still life, florals and figures. Currently, in a big change, Maryann's works are imaginative interpretations of the Cosmic Feminine.     INFLUENCES: I have had some formal training, but most of my skill as a watercolorist has come from ‘The School of 1000 Bad Paintings’, as I like to call it. I have been strongly influenced by the watercolors of such classic artists as Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Andrew Wyeth and Charles Hawthorne in the sense of their mastery of tone, design and simplicity with the medium, and in general by many of the abstract expressionists in the sense of their ability to distil the essence of pure form and meaning, in whatever medium. Of contemporary painters who have inspired me, there are simply hundreds, too many to name. Formally speaking, I am interested in light and color, in visual relationships, and how water media can achieve these goals, as I feel watercolors are unsurpassed in the beauty of immediacy and light.   For 2004, I had an exhibition entitled "A Feel for the Outer Cape" at the Sego Cafe, Main Street, Oneonta, in December 2003 and January 2004. I had a solo exhibition entitled "Around Town - Oneonta's Architecture Modified by Nature" at the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts Center in Oneonta in March and early April, was part of a two-woman show, "A Watercolor Sampler", along with Carolyn Neidingler, at the Frank W. Cyr Center, in Stamford, NY, for June and July. I was accepted into the Cooperstown Art Association's Annual National Exhibition in July. I finished the year by having a solo show at the Autumn Cafe in Oneonta for the month of December.   I took a break from any major artistic commitments for 2005. In 2006 I had a solo exhibition entitled "New Works on Clayboard" at the Cooperstown Art Association (NY)in June, was awarded an honorable mention for a piece in CAA's Regional exhibition, and had a show at the Autumn Cafe in Oneonta for the month of December, "Watercolors of New Mexico and Other Recent Works". I also had work at the Beekman Street Artists' Cooperative in Saratoga for the holidays and have returned to the Artisan Guild of Oneonta. In January of 2007 I exhibited 34 watercolors at the Sidney (NY) Public Library, and in February and early March of 2007 I had an exhibit along with Kim L'Hereux's clay vessels, entitled "Swimming With the Goddess" at the Upper Catskill Community Council for the Arts (uccca.com). In July '07, I had pieces in CAA's regional show and in UCCCA's annual exhibition, as well as several works in the Hilton-Bloom Studio Annual Group Exhibit in Gilbertsville, NY. I was awarded a Strategic Opportunity Stipend in 2007 from the NYS Arts Foundation to offset costs for attending Alex Grey's Visionary Art Intensive at Omega Institute.   2008.No exhibits this as I took a job managing a health food store, and am now working hard to recover from a cancer diagnosis in September. My next body of work will be images I have received related to this condition and from healing. Stay tuned!

"Cows in the Shade on a Hot Day" watercolor 2005

maryannart@hotmail.com