Artist Talk: Mary Griep

March 31, 2019

Artist Talk: Mary Griep

Mary Griep sitting in front of one of her famous
mixed media pieces (Ulu Camii).

Artist Talk: Mary Griep

Have you ever walked past a piece of artwork and wondered, "What in the world is this?" When first introduced to Mary Griep's artwork, I had no idea what I was looking at or why it was significant. To be quite frank, when I first saw her work my immediate thought was, "Huh, this reminds me of my grandmother's quilts."

On Friday, March 28th, I attended an artist talk at Lawrence University's Wriston Auditorium where she was the presenting artist. Hearing her explanation of her artwork gave me a whole new perspective when viewing her pieces.

Currently, a Professor of Art and Dean of Fine Arts at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, visual artist Mary Griep has been working on a series in her collection based off of 11th and 12th centuries around the world, called the Anastylosis Project, for nearly two decades.

Mary Griep has a unique approach to art. In her series called "Anastylosis," she carefully studies culture and draws some of the world's most famous and sacred spaces, such as mosques, churches, and other culturally sacred architecture. Interestingly, anastylosi is actually a Greek term which means "the restoration of a ruined building by reassembling the constituent parts." It isn't much of a mystery why Griep chooses this as the titled for her series.

Another thing that makes Griep stand out is that her media is done to scale. She focuses primarily on mixed media 2D illustrations. Her final pieces are quite large, ranging from 5+ feet to more than 30 feet in length. Her attention to detail is incredible, and the structures she recreates typically very neat and organized, making it easy for the viewer to look at and understand the subject matter in her work - if you are familiar with basic art history, anyways.

The life-size aspect to her pieces really makes her work quite powerful. Definitely check them out in person if you get the chance.