Mary A. Armstrong, who taught painting at Boston College for almost 30 years while continuing to pursue an active, accomplished artistic career, died on May 14. She was 71.
Mary Armstrong in 2016 (Lee Pellegrini)
Ms. Armstrong joined the studio art faculty in BC鈥檚 Fine Arts Department in 1989 after having taught at the Charles River School in Dover for 13 years. At BC, she taught such classes as Foundations Drawing, Color Theory and Practice, and鈥攊n collaboration with the Lynch School of Education鈥擯rinciples and Concepts in the Arts. She also curated the McMullen Museum of Art exhibitions 鈥淩e/Dressing Cathleen鈥 and 鈥淥riginal Visions.鈥
A native of Kent, Conn., Ms. Armstrong found inspiration for her own art in seascapes and landscapes, especially along the coast of Maine, where she spent several months a year, or at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California, which she visited for many years.
鈥淓very day I stare wide-eyed at the changing light, and perceive, more and more deeply, the symbiotic connection of earth and sky,鈥 she wrote .
. 鈥淚 see how the forces shape each other and I strive to create a painted space that will expres the ineffable beauty of this dynamic 鈥榮andwich鈥 of atmosphere and earth. I am striving, in my daily practice in the studio, to continually improvise from my perceptions; this makes the process very active, containing many layers of oil paint and wax (on wood panel). I am a student of light and a collector of air.鈥
Ms. Armstrong鈥檚 artistic vision found acclaim in many quarters. She exhibited multiple solo shows at The Victoria Munroe Gallery in New York City and Boston鈥檚 Victoria Munroe Fine Art Gallery, and was given a 10-year retrospective at The Felecita Foundation in Escondido Calif. She also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Mass., and the Portland Museum of Art in Maine, as well as others in Connecticut, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
Among her numerous honors and awards were a fellowship from The Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland, and a grant for works on paper from the New England Foundation for The Arts.
Ms. Armstrong continued to find new avenues and contexts for her art. In 2006, she created the exhibition 鈥24 Hour News,鈥 a series of paintings representing her response to the Iraq War.
鈥淯p until then I was working with imagery that connected nature to the human body. I was and am interested in exploring images of transformation and transfiguration,鈥 she said in an interview with the Boston College Chronicle in 2016, when she brought 鈥24 Hour News鈥 to O鈥橬eill Library.
鈥24 Hour News鈥 showed such a progression, as she explained. The dark blue paintings were the earliest and part of a series dating to just after 9/11, which were 鈥渕editations on the vulnerability of the human body to violence.鈥 As images from the war unfolding in Iraq began to enter her consciousness, she said, 鈥渢he color red came to dominate the work.鈥 The final painting in the exhibition, 鈥淟aunch,鈥 was 鈥渁 release鈥濃 the return 鈥渢o light and air in the movement away from the earth, sailing up into the troposphere.鈥
Having retired from BC in the spring of 2019, last fall Ms. Armstrong presented the exhibition 鈥淐onditions of Faith鈥 in the McMullen Museum鈥檚 atrium鈥攁 selection of paintings she had done in recent years depicting vistas in Maine and Anza-Borrego. 鈥淔or Armstrong,鈥 the exhibition description read, 鈥渞oiling currents, sunlit estuaries, and particularly rising waves are 鈥榓 perfect visual metaphor for change, both desired and feared, destructive and regenerative, personal and political.鈥欌
Ms. Armstrong received a B.F.A. from Boston University and a master鈥檚 degree from Lesley University.
She is survived by her husband, Stoney Conley, an associate professor of the practice in BC鈥檚 Art, Art History, and Film Department, with whom she studied and taught in such meccas of art as Florence or Venice. She also is survived by her brother, Christopher F. Armstrong, and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her brother, David Armstrong.
A celebration of her life is planned for a later date. Condolences may extended via a .
University Communications | May 2020