Mary Ciani
Resume
maryciani.com
maryciani5@gmail.com
979-575-1825
Recent Work
2017 - 2024 Deluge Paintings Mostly translucent Golden acrylics on canvas,
Including 90 48” x 36”, 23 40” x 30”, 45 16” x 20”, and 4 of multiple canvases together
2022 Postcards from the Future Archival red and black very fine line and brush markers, drawn one a day for 150 days
on Fabriano Artistico, traditional white, 100% cotton, rough, Acquarello, 140 lbs 7” x 5” watercolor paper
2015 FLOOD River Village City Storm Deluge Book, a selection of 66 full-page drawings in six chapters, 84 pages, Blurb.com
2013 - 2017 Flood Drawings 300 drawings in professional marker, 14” x 11” or 17” x 14”
Selected One Person Exhibitions
2016 FLOOD River Village City Storm Deluge
Forty-six Archival prints in six sections, including six 40” x 50” prints of inverted drawings of deluge
Wright Gallery, Texas A&M University, College Station TX
Video of Walkthrough of the exhibition: FLOOD Artist Mary Ciani - YouTube
2003 Madonna of the Metro, Recent Photography, Langford Gallery, Texas A&M University
1996 Ladders, Painting, digital painting, Local Color Gallery, College Station TX
1993 Vines/Time, Painting and pen and ink drawings, Hill Country Arts Foundation, Ingram
Winner of state-wide competition
1992 Vines, 91 pen and ink drawings of vines, 7 rows of 13 drawings
Langford Gallery, Texas A&M University, College Station TX
1990 Leaving/Letting Go, Oil painting, watercolors, C. G. Jung Educational Center, Houston
1988 Maps, Mountains, Oil painting, Local Color Gallery, College Station TX
1986 Recent Paintings and Works on Paper, Pembroke Gallery, Houston
Selected Group Exhibitions and Awards
2024 Transmissions 2024, Sponsored by ecoartspace, Canopy, Austin TX
2020 Persist, Resist, Coexist, Wright Gallery, Texas A&M University
Video of Artist’ Talks: Persist, Resist, Coexist - Virtual Artist Talk, Part 2 - YouTube
From 24:20 to 26:14, and from 36:59 to 39:16 I discuss the Deluge paintings I have in the show.
2012 Electron Salon, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles
2006 Performing Arts Showcase, Rudder Auditorium, Texas A&M University
Readings from Leaving/Letting Go poetry collection, accompanied by my animations of drawings
2006 Dada Moon Exhibition, Austin TX
Special Recognition
2004 Everybody Art: Show Us Your Feminism, Vine Street Studios, Houston
1999 Envisioning the Future: City, SIGGRAPH 99, Los Angeles Convention Center
Show traveled to Europe and Japan
1999 International Digital Works on Paper, McKissick Museum, Univ. of South Carolina
Award of $500 printing from Jon Cone Editions
1999 Digital Art from the Viz Lab, Art League of Houston Gallery
Curator of show and participating artist
1999 New York Digital Salon, Visual Arts Museum, New York City
Show traveled to Madrid, Milan, Barcelona, Alicante, Lisbon
1994 City, Room, Garden, National Invitational Exhibition, University of Houston
Show traveled to California College of Arts and Crafts
1993 Contemporary Art Museum Tour of studio in Summer-White Studios, Houston
1992 Tri-State Plus, Beaumont, Texas, Juried by Charles Hooks
1992 Looking at Art, Tour of studio in Summer-White Studios, Houston
1991 Drawings & Prints: Artists in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
Union Art Gallery, Louisiana State University LA, Juried by Dr. Arlette Klaric
Award
1991 Critic’s Choice, D-Art Visual Art Center, Dallas TX
Juried by Dallas Art Dealers Association
Three works accepted
1991 Twentieth Annual National Works on Paper Exhibition, Texas Univercity, San Marcos
Juried by Townsend Wolfe
Purchase Prize
1983 Mostra di Grafica, Sponsored by Society delle Belle Arti, Circolo degli Artisti
Casa de Dante, Florence, Italy, Curated by Joseph Hutchinson
1979 Miniature Show, Lawndale Alternative, University of Houston
City-wide artists’ party sponsored by James Surls
AFEW Artist Collaborative, Interactive Installations
Mary Ciani, Karen Hillier, Bill Jenks, Carol LaFayette
Ciani contributed animated digital paintings projected on “clothing” or “rivers” in all of these
2005 Float, 30’ x 48’ installation
Gaddis Geeslin Gallery, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville
Winner of state-wide competition
2003 After the Hunt 2, Archives Gallery, College of Architecture, University of Houston
Invitational exhibition
2002 After the Hunt, SIGGRAPH 2002 Conference Art Gallery, San Antonio
International juried exhibition
Selected Lectures
2016 “Art of Warning: Clairvoyant Vision and the Making of the Flood Drawings”
Pechakucha talk, 9/13/16, Grand Stafford Theater, Bryan TX
http://www.pechakucha.org/presentations/art-of-warning-making-of-the-flood-drawings
2006 “I Laugh in Yellow: The Intersection of Traditional and Digital Media”
Plenary Session, American Society for Aesthetics, Rocky Mountain Division, Santa Fe NM
1990 “Other Worlds: Persephone and Jung,” C.G. Jung Education Center, Houston
Professional Experience
2013-2024 Drawings of Flood, Painting of Deluge, and Drawings of Postcards from the Future
Book and Exhibition of Drawings
Worked in Bolinas CA, Washington DC, Belfast and Flea Island ME,
Ann Arbor MI, Austin, and College Station TX
2002-2010 AFEW Artists Collaborative, four Visualization Department faculty members
1992-2000 Summer White Cooperative Artists’ Studios, Houston TX, run by the artists
1986-1992 Pembroke Gallery, Houston TX, gallery representation and one-person exhibition
1984-1994 Cooperative Artists’ Studios, 210 West 26th Street, Bryan TX, a founding member
1980-1981 Artist in Residence, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University
1982-2013 Senior Lecturer, Departments of Architecture and Visualization, Texas A&M University
Collections
Arthur Andersen, Inc., Houston
First City National Bank, Houston
Southwestern Bell, Houston
mural commission, one canvas 4’ x 15’
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University System
Transco Energy Corporation, Houston
Other corporations and individuals
Education
1982 MFA in Painting, University of Houston
Studied with John Alexander, Richard Stout, David Hickman, Suzanne Bloom, and James Surls
We worked in huge studios in a converted rope factory; Terry Allen was a dynamic visiting artist.
1970 MFA in Drawing, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
Concentrated in Drawing with Herbert Olds
Thesis film: Drawing Decisions: stop motion film of my drawing of three large charcoal drawings
On my own, I drew illustrations for The Pittsburgh Fair Witness underground newspaper.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Fair_Witness
1964 BA in Fine Arts, Smith College, Northampton MA
Special Studies in Drawing with Leonard Baskin
A quotation from Professor Baskin: “Would you die for that line, Miss Ciani?”
Individual Courses
1977 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI
Advanced Oil Painting with Mignonette Cheng, who awoke me to color
1974 Sam Houston State University, Huntsville TX
Silk Screen Printmaking with Stanley Lea, who encouraged me in a strange new land
1968 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco CA
Adventurous evening class in Oil Painting, including crawling around the floor in unrolling paper
1964-1966 Art Students League, New York City,
Oil Painting with Stephen Greene, Etching with Soeng Moy
3 hours, 5 evenings a week, where I learned in a city that was an art teacher to me for three years
Also a course in sculpture, and courses in book design and printing so I could be a book designer during the day.