Artist Statement Mary Stebbins

I grew up in northern California. My childhood memories are exploring the wild hills nearby, and taking trips into the desert and the mountains. Nature was and is the place where I am most at home. My father, a biologist, taught me the value of even the smallest creature. Being an artist, he also taught me the value of art. He was my first and greatest teacher. With his encouragement and that of my mother who was also an artist, I learned early on the joy of artistic creation.

I came to Canada in 1973 to get a teaching credential at Simon Fraser University. I did my student teaching in Vernon, and here I have lived ever since. For many years as a mother and an elementary school teacher, I found little time for my own art. My creative energy went into developing an environment for encouraging the artist in the children I taught.  

After retirement, I began travelling, preferring out of the way places where people live close to the earth—Tibet, Africa, Mongolia, Nepal. It was the faces of the people I met that became the subject for many of my paintings. I believe every human being has a story. I paint what I’m drawn to—the person within. Faces intrigue me. I search for their expression, the story in their eyes, the line of the lips, the light on a cheek. I also paint the people I love, my friends and family. Each painting feels like a miracle, that slowly from a blank canvas a person emerges and takes on a life of his or her own. And while that person has changed, grown older, or perhaps is no longer alive something of their life remains through the painting. I also enjoy painting animals as well as landscapes of the places I’m drawn to. Sometimes I paint in water color but mostly I paint with oil or acrylic.