Mari Andrews

Mari Andrews Description

Mari Andrews is a sculptor and installation artist. Her work is a continuation of her drawing practice and employs such varied materials as wire, lead, seeds, stones, mica, gold, soil, salt, pods, and thorns. Many of these are found materials collected during her travels. By choosing from this diverse collection, she creates new associations and juxtapositions that awaken the imagination. Many of Andrews’ sculptures are small-scale and intimate worlds, shown individually or installed in large groups. Drawing upon her fascination with nature, science, and the environment, she has incorporated both Nature’s systems and Nature’s randomness into her work.

She earned her BFA from the University of Dayton, Ohio, where she studied art and sociology. Traveling west, she completed her MFA at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. She has been awarded an NEA Fellowship and several residencies including Djerassi Resident Artist Program in Woodside CA, the Cold Press north of London, the Lucid Art Foundation, and most recently the James Castle House Residency

Her work can be found in the collections of the de Young Museum of Art, San Jose Museum of Art, the de Saisset Museum in Santa Clara, CA, and the Eli Broad Foundation, and in private and corporate collections in the US and abroad.
Andrews has exhibited extensively throughout California and the US, including the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, The Bolinas Museum, The Los Gatos Museum, the De Saisset Museum, The Monterey Museum of Art, Southern Exposure in San Francisco, and the Tucson Museum of Art and the Sun Valley Museum of Art. Internationally, she has exhibited in Japan, Israel, and England.
Mari Andrews is known for delicate, haiku-like sculptures that she has been making for the past 20 years. Her “three-dimensional drawings” combine collected natural objects like seeds, leaves, moss, and stones with linear man-made materials, such as metal wire. Many of the materials are found on the artist’s frequent nature walks around the San Francisco Bay Area and the Sierras. Newer investigations in her studio practice include earth elements as well as tools or instruments of measuring time, distance, and direction.

Andrews’ works are often small-scale and intimate worlds onto themselves, shown individually or in large groupings. As with all of Andrews’ work, elements are simple and pared down to what is essential. With such simplicity, the viewer is able to appreciate not only the sculptural details, such as the complementary nature of contrasting materials but also the beauty and wonder offered by nature, which we often overlook.”