Mary Ahern

MaryAhernArtist.com

STATEMENT

My work returns again and again to centering, not as an escape from chaos, but as an active response to it. That practice began in the garden, where cycles of growth, decay, and renewal became a way of thinking as much as a source of imagery. I often pair the very small with the very large, the center of a flower with the shape of a galaxy, because I believe the same patterns of balance repeat at every scale.

I work across painting, digital media, and installation not to repeat one idea in different materials, but because each medium offers a different way of paying attention: painting carries the slow mark of the hand, digital work translates something living through a machine, and installation removes the image altogether, replacing it with a tactile space the viewer can experience with all their senses. Circles, spheres, and other recurring symbols move through this work, but they are tools in service of larger questions, not a signature layered on top.

All of it sits inside a practice of over fifty years, spanning painting, sculpture, assemblage, installation, and garden design, of which this exhibition is only the most recent chapter.

Solo Invitational Art Exhibitions & Events

2026Centering in the Midst of Chaos. Ceres Gallery. Solo Exhibition. November, 2026
2026Transverse Gallery for Contemporary Art. Solo Exhibition. May 29, 2026 – August 2, 2026. Locust Grove Estate & Museum. Poughkeepsie, NY
2025Full Circle. Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Queens College, NY. Duo Alumni Exhibition. April – May, 2025
2024The Atelier at Flowerfields. St. James NY. Solo Invitational. “Not Just Another Pretty Flower”. April-May
2023Bayard Cutting Arboretum. Great River. NY. Solo Invitational. May-June
2022Karen & Ed Adler Gallery. PWPL. Solo Invitational. Port Washington NY
2020OMNI Gallery. Uniondale NY. “The Flower Show”. January – June
2019Ashawagh Hall East Hampton NY. Invitational. “Contemplations”. June
Farmingdale State College. Memorial Gallery. Invitational.  June & 2021
Huntington Arts Center. Featured Artist. June-Sept.
2018The Bridgehampton Museum. Market + Art Show. July 5-8 
Bayard Cutting Arboretum. Great River, NY. Solo Invitational. “Floral Contemplations-A Duality of Vision” May-June
2016Bayard Cutting Arboretum. Great River, NY. “Gardens Revisited”. Solo Invitational. May/July

Selected Juried Shows, Competitions & Awards

2025• Pigments of Your Imagination. Art League of Long Island. Oct-Nov, 2025
• Mills Pond Gallery. Imagination ’25. St. James. NY. Oct-Nov, 2025
• Salmagundi Club, New York, NY. Sylvia Maria Glesmann Exhibition. Sept, 2025
• Raising Women’s Voices. Ceres Gallery, NYC. May-June, 2025
2024• Permanent Impermanence. South Dartmouth, MA.
• Spring Fling. FotoFoto Gallery. Huntington NY. May 2024
• Primary Colors. The Art Guild. Port Washington NY
2022• Emerging Artists. Heckscher Museum. Huntington NY
• National Heritage Trust. Olmstead Symposium at Bayard Cutting Arboretum
2018-19• Beamsderfer Gallery. Highland Park. NJ. “Real/Unreal”
• Islip Art Museum. Islip NY. “The Art of Collaborating”
• Mills Pond House. Smithtown NY. Juror James Rubin. “Time”
• Slide Slam Presentation. Sponsored by the Patchogue Arts Coalition.
• The Bridgehampton Museum. Bridgehampton NY. Market + Art Show

Memberships 

  • Allied Artists. New York NY. 
  • Artists Alliance of East Hampton. East Hampton NY.
  • Art League of Long Island. Dix Hills NY
  • Guild Hall. Easthampton. NY
  • Huntington Arts Council. Huntington. NY
  • Islip Arts Council
  • LI Museum of Art. Stony Brook NY
  • Mills Pond House Gallery. Smithtown Arts Council. Smithtown NY.
  • MOCA Museum. Patchogue NY
  • National Association of Women Artists. NAWA.
  • Northport Arts Coalition. Northport NY

Lectures/Public Speaking

  • 2023-2024. Presenter. Professional Business Practices for Artists. Round Table Discussion Series. National Association of Women Artists.
  • May 2023. Invited Speaker. Bayard Cutting Arboretum. Great River NY. “Not Just Another Pretty Flower2”
  • May 2021. Invited Speaker. Noon With NAWA. “Social Media for Beginners”
  • August 2019. Invited Speaker. Three Village Garden Club. “From the Garden to the Wall. Design Concepts Used When Creating a Painting and Creating a Garden”.
  • January 2019. Slide Slam. Juried Presentation. Sponsored by the Patchogue Arts Coalition.
  • June 2018. Invited Speaker. Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Great River NY. “Contemplations – The Duality of Vision”
  • September 2017. Invited Speaker. American Rhododendron Society, Long Island Chapter. “From the Garden to the Wall. Design Concepts Used When Creating a Painting and Creating a Garden”.
  • March 2015. Invited Speaker, Long Island Horticultural Society. “From the Garden to the Wall”.
  • March 2014. Invited Speaker in conjunction with a One-Person Art Show. “From the Garden to the Wall”. A Conversation About Workflow & Process in Creating Digital and Traditional Mixed Media Art. Sponsored by: Harborfields Library & Centerport Garden Club.
  • August 2013. Invited Speaker. “From the Garden to the Wall”. A Conversation About Workflow & Process in Creating Digital and Traditional Mixed Media Art. Sponsored by: Huntington Arts Council.

Publications

Education

  • Certificate in Botanical Art and Illustration. New York Botanical Garden.
  • A.S. Ornamental Horticulture. Farmingdale State. Robert J. Rodler Scholarship. Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.
  • BA. Queens College. Major in Fine Arts. Cum Laude & Fine Arts Award of Distinction. 
  • Post-graduate work in Computer Science. Columbia University.
  • Life-Long Learning in workshops across the United States online & in-person. 
  • Marketing with Tony Robbins, Seth Godin & Alyson Stanfield.