Works by:
Mary E. Johnson-Mason, Anne McCahill
& Celeste Johnston
Mary E. Johnson-Mason Bio
Mary is a local artist from beautiful Locust Grove, VA. She has a degree from the University of Mary Washington in Studio Art where her main focus of study was photography and oil painting. While at Mary Washington she was able to study under three professors that still inspire her; Steve Griffin, Joseph DiBella and Carole Garmon.
After her third child was born in 2017, painting became more difficult so she put up her paints and reached into her sewing past and took it a step further --painting with thread. Mary has always had a love for doing counted cross stitching, so she taught herself how to do a Fine Art style of embroidery. She has since added painted skies and rivers to add different depths and texture that mere thread could not convey. Mary has shown her work at galleries in Virginia and has taken on commissions all while homeschooling her three children ages 15 to 8 and working full-time as a Records Clerk.
Mary's work has a folk-art whimsical feel with her landscapes of rolling hills and farm houses. She has taken the memories of all the places that she has traveled and lived to combine them into unique landscapes that are truly one-of-a-kind. She has combined mountains from her childhood in Albuquerque with the rolling hills of Virginia and the trees and country roads of Europe all into one. She looks forward to expanding her talents in the years to come to see how much she can push her limits in her chosen field of textiles.
Anne McCahill Bio
Anne is a French native who came to the USA as a Fulbright teacher. She taught foreign languages for 30 years both at the university and high school levels in Virginia.
After retiring, Botanical Art became a real passion. Certified in Botanical Illustration from the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond VA, I participated in a number of show in the area. My mediums are watercolor, colored pencil, and pen and ink. I was privileged to teach embroidery classes based on botanical themes from flower portraits to illuminated letters.
My initial training as a botanical illustrator focused on the close observation of every aspect of a plant, above and below ground, true to Mother Nature's design. Watercolor and Embroidery both are able to convey a plethora of shades, shadows, and textures. I believe needlework should endure as an artistic expression, offering accomplishment and pleasure while preserving tradition for future generations.
Celeste Johnson
