“The human figure has been an infinite source of inspiration for me as an artist. My very personal expression of the human experience – on a physical, emotional and spiritual level is revealed in each of the sculptures I create. My subjects are vehicles that connect my inner spirit to a tangible sculptural form, expressed through the use of intense, luminous colors and sharply defined shapes, tensioned against sensuous organic forms and surfaces. I am drawn to clay on many levels, from childhood remembrances to the discovery of its unlimited potential for creative expression. Much of the joy I experience as a sculptor arises from transforming raw materials such as clay, into a work that has its own individual presence, spirit, timelessness and mystery.”
– Mary-Ann Prack
About the artist
Mary-Ann Prack was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Her background includes three generations of family artist tradition encompassing sculpture, painting, and architecture. A richly creative environment was the essential basis from which she developed an appreciation, respect, and love of art and her favorite period in art history – the abstract expressionist movement. From this foundation she has developed artwork that transforms her personal vocabulary of form, color, line and texture into what are spirited, serious and elegant abstractions of the human form. Her work stems from an intuitive source, rather than a response to social trends and movements, moral causes or political statements.
Prack began her formal fine art education at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, continued at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and Florida Atlantic University where she studied both fine art and interior design. After working for a number of years as an Interior Designer Mary-Ann was eventually able to transition into creating art on a full time basis. For the past thirty years she has worked with clay as a pure sculpture medium. There is nothing traditional about her approach to or use of clay in terms of subject, design, scale or glazing techniques. She hand-builds using a slab method with specially formulated clay that has a stone-like hardness, strength and consistency suitable for large-scale clay constructions. Mary-Ann continues to create sculpture and more recently paintings with an enthusiasm, focused energy and commitment to high quality that has been evident from the beginning. Prack has fully matured her artistic style into that which is instantly recognizable as her own. Mary-Ann now lives in Jefferson, NC where she runs her studio practice full time.