Willow Glen Resident
Business
Photograph by John Medina
Mary Medrano has joined the many artists who have opened studios and galleries in downtown Campbell. Medrano, who lives in Willow Glen, took over artist Lorraine Lawson's space in The Courtyard.
Willow Glen artist Medrano moves from garage to gallery
By Cathy Weselby
Downtown Campbell is transforming into an art colony, as one more artist, Mary Medrano, joins the community. The Mary Medrano Gallery opened in July in The Courtyard.
Medrano visited her friend Lorraine Lawson of Gallery Boheme a few months ago and thought, "I want this." Lawson moved a few doors down to the front of The Courtyard, and Medrano moved into Lawson's space.
"It's great to be around other artists," Medrano says.
For the past five years, Medrano has been painting out of her Willow Glen garage. With her move into the downtown, she has an opportunity to be around like-minded souls. She enjoys that camaraderie and is pleased to have a location where she can paint and show her work.
Medrano stumbled upon painting later in life, with the help of the dot-com downturn. Medrano was laid off from her ad agency job in 2001, so she spent some time exploring what she really wanted to do. She took a few online painting lessons and found her calling.
Medrano describes her work as expressionistic, somewhere between abstract and realistic.
"Most of my paintings are from my imagination, based on my feelings," Medrano says.
She sometimes draws on photographs for inspiration.
"I'll come across an old photo and make up a story about what's going on in the picture," Medrano says.
Other times she might focus on an interesting feature of a person and see where it takes her. In her painting, "Two Left Feet," Medrano worked from a turn of the 20th- century photograph of an old man seated in a chair. She painted a figure seated with two left feet to add a twist.
Many of her paintings are portraits, with expressions ranging from haunting to inquisitive, and the colors are rich and penetrating. Medrano says her influences are Max Beckman, a German Expressionist, and Joan Brown, a Bay Area Figurative painter.
Her creative interests have come full circle.
She started her career as a photographer, receiving her photography degree from Western Michigan University. Later, she earned a degree in graphic design from UC-Santa Cruz and worked as a graphic designer and art director for 10 years.
She now benefits from her training as a photographer, which helped her developed on eye for light and composition.
"Photography is about seeing, and painting is also about seeing," Medrano says.
Her work is beginning to receive international recognition. Her art has been selected for the Florence Biennale, a prestigious art show in Italy this December.
The Mary Medrano Gallery features her acrylic paintings on canvas and on paper, as well as sculptures by Helen Bellaver. Medrano also offers beginner painting classes on Fridays in the gallery.
A grand opening celebration is planned for Sept. 7 in conjunction with Downtown Campbell's First Friday event.
For more information on the Mary Medrano Gallery, 305 E. Campbell Ave., call 408.288.8220 or visit www.marymedrano.com.
