Photograph by Paul Myers
Mary Wyatt, now exhibiting at Gallery Saratoga, enjoys painting outdoor images in both acrylics and watercolors.
Artist paints a medley of themes
By Shari Kaplan
Being the baby of the family has both pros and cons, but for Mary Bielinski Mildbrandt Wyatt, being the youngest of eight siblings helped set her on the path that would end up winding through her entire life.
The path was that of a professional artist and art instructor, which in turn led her to join Gallery Saratoga, at 14531 Big Basin Way. She's currently the featured artist at the gallery, where her exhibition, "Medley of Themes," is up through Sept. 30. The medley comprises outdoor scenes in both watercolors and acrylics.
For Wyatt, the discovery of her creative Muse came early.
"At the age of 9, I talked to my older brother and said 'I'm not an interesting person!'" the Wisconsin native recalls. "Everyone in the family had a hobby or a collection; everyone had something to talk about when we sat around the dinner table, but I didn't."
Wyatt's brother asked her if there was anything she really liked doing, and she answered that she enjoyed painting and drawing in school. "If it's something that you want to do, you should do it," she remembers her brother telling her.
And so she did, even though she says she initially had little actual skill. "My horses looked like dogs!" she reveals, laughing. That all, however, changed after she studied at Layton Art School, Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin. She's also taken many workshops and studied under professional artists in various parts of the country. She also found time along the way to get married and raise five children.
Wyatt, now in her 60s and living in San Jose at the border juncture of Saratoga and Cupertino, is now an art instructor herself. For some 20 years, in fact, she has taught at the Saratoga Senior Center, in conjunction with Saratoga's West Valley College, where she also taught for a time.
"If you can write your name, you can learn to paint!" is what she likes to tell students. She also encourages them to never stop studying and experimenting with their chosen medium: "There's always something to learn; you never stop learning. There are always new methods and techniques."
"Once you learn the techniques, you can go on to express yourself however you want. I never touch [students'] paintings; that's a very precious and personal thing," she adds, telling of how an art teacher once took a brush and, without asking first, completely altered (in Wyatt's eyes, ruined) a painting Wyatt was working on.
There's nothing of that sort in Gallery Saratoga--just nearly two dozen images of the great outdoors. Many are of California, such as Dry Docks Moss Landing, a soft watercolor of a Monterey Bay shipyard; Cupertino Barn, another watercolor depicting the Valley's bygone agricultural days; Yosemite, an acrylic portrayal of El Capitan in the winter; and California Oak, an acrylic which needs no explanation.
A rural Wisconsin scene is part of the mix too, as are various images of nature and animals that could be just about anywhere.
Gallery Saratoga is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 408.867.0458 or visit www.gallerysaratoga.com on the Internet.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
