Seabrook Island Artist Guild (SIAG) welcomes Mary Seagars
Demonstration – March 3 @ 1:30 pm at Oyster Catcher
Workshop – March 4 & 5 @ 9:00 am – 4:00 pm at Oyster Catcher
Mary was naturally drawn to sketching, even as a young girl. While growing up in Blacksburg, VA, she often doodled around with a pencil and sketchpad. She chose to major in biology at the College of William & Mary. Mary has an intense interest in nature and the mechanics of life. After working six years as a research technician at the University of Georgia Veterinary School, she married a veterinarian and moved to Hartsville, SC, where they lived for 13 years. After having three boys the family moved to Beaufort, SC in 1996.
While in high school in the early 1970s, she taught herself to paint pastel portraits and began accepting commissions at the age of 16. Mary completed an estimated 250 pastel portraits over the next 22 years. While living in Athens, GA, and working at the veterinary school, she learned the technique of scratchboard, a medium that she loves but rarely uses today. In Hartsville, she added pen & ink and colored pencil to her repertoire.
Until 1999, art was nothing more than a hobby for Mary, complementing her life of part-time jobs, children, gardening, swimming, running, and school volunteering. After moving to Beaufort, she decided to pursue art in earnest in 1999. Teaching herself from a library book, she began dabbling in oil painting, Mary’s first fluid medium. Fairly overwhelmed by color theory at first, she began using only primary colors, which still constitute her palette today. After painting for only five months, she had her first show.
She has produced three large pieces of public art in Beaufort, two murals and a mosaic. Mary also enjoys teaching painting and drawing techniques along with offering workshops, one-day classes, and private lessons in various locations throughout the Southeast. She has participated in numerous juried festivals throughout Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Between 2010 and 2020, she participated in Piccolo Spoleto in downtown Charleston and was awarded Best in Show for her entire body of work at the 2015 Piccolo Spoleto Festival. In 2016, one of her paintings was chosen to be displayed on a full-size billboard in the Lowcountry of SC as part of the ArtPop program.
Just recently, she has been chosen as the Artist of the Year for the Port Royal Sound Foundation, an organization that focuses on environmental awareness and education. For the past 12 years, Mary has had a studio/gallery in downtown Beaufort (Atelier Off Bay), where she is also manager of the 14 studios. Currently, Mary’s artwork can be seen at Atelier on Bay in Beaufort, SC, George Davis Fine Art & Antiques in Savannah, and City Art Gallery in Greenville, NC. Please visit her website by clicking here.
Please contact Tina Mayland at tinamayland@mindspring.com to sign up for the workshop or with any questions.
For more information on the Guild’s events, workshops, and membership, click here.
-Submitted by Bonnie Younginer, Seabrook Island Artist Guild
(Image credit: Mary Seagars)