Sterling Mulbry
Artist Bio Artist Work
Sterling Mulbry’s oil paintings on wood panel present landscapes inspired by her travels to Dominica and Trinidad. Tropical vistas are viewed through sun-faded, slatted wooden shutters with succulent mangoes, lemons and pineapples in the foreground, creating a synthesis of movement from the indoors to the outdoors. The palpable surface and luscious color of Mulbry"s paintings transport the viewer to another world, one where the untamed elements of nature may very well cross the line from their world to ours. A graduate of Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mulbry has been featured in seven solo shows at Clark Gallery. Her work can be found in numerous private and corporate collections.
Artist's Statement
This new series of work was initially inspired by two trips to Mexico over the last few years. Upon arrival, I was immediately drawn to the colorful shapes of the colonial architecture of San Miguel and Guanajuato and made many watercolor studies of the buildings and plazas. On my second trip, I narrowed my focus to the detailed tile work on both the interior and exterior of buildings and fountains. I was also inspired by the huge array of fruit at the local markets, bought them, made watercolors and drawings, and then ate them.
It wasn’t until I returned from Mexico to my hometown in Florida where I spend most winters that I discovered a way to combine these two elements. While rummaging through old chests and closets for interesting fabrics, I came across a treasure trove of old tiles that my grandparents had collected on their many travels. One group of tiles pictured two fantastical peacocks, and I immediately knew I had found the perfect background for a large still life.
Over the last ten years, I've made several series of bird paintings and am an enthusiastic bird watcher, so I drew the birds’ shapes so that they would be my own but kept the whorls and flowers from the original tiles. I liked arranging the fruit so that it might seem that the birds were eyeing them. But the fruit often changed and moved around as I worked on the composition over several months. Ruskin once said that “composition is the arrangement of unequal things" and I’ve thought about this as I’ve moved fruit from one place to another trying to find the spot where the weight of its color and shape work within the whole painting.
Other old Mexican tiles became the background for a couple of watermelon still lifes. Here in Florida I have my pick of fruit as it comes into season in the late winter and spring. I began many of these oils in Florida working from the actual tiles and fruit and finished them in my Boston studio over the summer and fall, incorporating more bird tiles I found online and fruit as it came into season in New England. In retrospect, I realize that I have attempted to create the four seasons using fruit as the indicator of the season and the color either muted or blazing according to the warmth of the season. At present, I am working on winter.
These oils are painted on wood panels, often have a red or blue acrylic undercolor and then are composed of many different layers of oils. I use underlayers of terra cotta and dark browns to give depth to the tiles, then a layer of thicker paint for the tiles and fruit, and lastly, overlays of colored varnishes for shadows on the fruit and tiles.
Another ongoing series that I began last year with Persian Flowers with Books continues with In the Night Garden. Here I’m working with decorative elements inspired by Persian and Indian miniatures, Italian Renaissance frescoes, and real objects and playing with background and foreground space. The subjects may be different from the tiles and fruit series but the object remains the same. Flat patterns merging with three-dimensional objects resulting in a space somewhere between reality and dreams.
Education
2012 Residency, Los Talleres, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2000 Summer residency, Altos de Chavon, Dominican Republic
1985 Fifth Year Traveling Scholarship Program, The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1984 Diploma, The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1976 B.F.A., The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
1971–73 Literature, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
Collections
Harvard University
Emory University
The Boston Company
Wellington Management
Fidelity Investments
The Seaport Hotel
Putnam Investments
Kidder Peabody
Looney & Grossman
Awards
1996
Blanche Colman Award, Boston, MA
1991
Blanche Colman Award, Boston, MA
1986
Painting Fellowship, The Artists Foundation, Boston, MA
Solo Exhibitions
2022
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2019
Clark Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2018
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Subtropical, FP3 Gallery, 346 Congress. St.,Boston, MA
New England BioLabs, Ipswich, MA
2017
Luscious, Trustman Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA
2015
Art Providence, Providence, RI
2013
Graficas Gallery, Nantucket, MA
2012
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Graficas Gallery, Nantucket, MA
2011
Graficas Gallery, Nantucket, MA
2007
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2004
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2000
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1998
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1996
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1995
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1994
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1993
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1992
Cambridge Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge, MA
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1991
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1990
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1989
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1988
La Vie en Rose Gallery, Florence, Italy
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1987
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1986
Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1985
Kenneth Taylor Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1984
The Little Gallery, Nantucket, MA
Group Exhibitions
2021
Poolside, Jag Gallery, Key West, FL
2019
The Odyssey Project, Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
2018
Clark Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Graficas Gallery, Nantucket, MA
2017
Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2016
Graficas Gallery,Nantucket, MA
Summer Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2015
Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Graficas Gallery, Nantucket, MA
2014
Beasts of Burden, Harvard Allston Education Gallery, Allston, MA
Surface, Strokes, & Light, Kelley Roy Gallery, Newtown, CT
Parks and Recreation, Atlantic Wharf Gallery, Boston, MA
The Roddy Competition, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA
The Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2013
Art of the Book, Graficas Gallery, Nantucket, MA
Summer, Graficas Gallery, Nantucket, MA
Still: Objects Observed, Atlantic Wharf Gallery, Boston, MA
The Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2011
Picture Books, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1987–2011
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2010
Bon Appetit: A Visual Treat, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA
2009
Flower Power, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2006
On Point, Fort Point Arts Community Gallery, Boston, MA
2004
Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2000
DeCordova Downtown, Federal Reserve, Boston, MA
Artists in Residence, Altos de Chavon, Dominican Republic
2000–2005
Group Show, 12 Orange Art Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1999
What Jack Built, Newton Arts Center, Newton, MA
1996–99
The (X) Gallery, Nantucket, MA
1997
Thru a Window, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1992
Watercolor Show, Deland Museum, Deland, FL
1990
Works on Paper, Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA
1989
Works on Paper, Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA
1988
Sixth Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1987
Fifth Annual Salon Show, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
1986
Group Show, Van Buren/Brazelton/Cutting, Cambridge, MA
Massachusetts Foundation Fellowship Exhibition, Federal Reserve Bank, Boston, MA
Selected Bibliography
2019
"The Odyssey Project: An Old Story for Modern Times", Art New England Online by Emily Bass, 11/26/19
"Godesses, Monsters, and Mortals, and More", Art Sake Online, Mass Cultural Council, 11/8/19
2012
100 Boston Artists by Chawky Frenn, Schiffer Art Books
2011
Cover Image, Magpies by Lynne Barrett, Carnegie Mellon U. Press
1999
"Familiarity Breeds Content" by Mary Sherman, The Boston Globe
1998
New American Paintings, The Open Studios Press, Boston, MA
"Mulbry’s exuberance shines in her work" by Chrisitne Temin, The Boston Globe, 9/23/1998
"Your First Piece of Art" by Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, 3/20/1998
1996
"Sterling Mulbry: Recent Paintings" by Joyce Cohen Art New England, April/May 1996
1992
"Sterling Mulbry,Recent Paintings at Gallery 57, Cambridge Arts Council", by Nico McIan, Art New England, April/May1992
1989
"Sterling Mulbry: New Paintings" by Marty Carlock, Art New England, April 1989
1989
"Perspectives" by Chrisitne Temin, The Boston Globe, 2/9/89
"Mulbry’s art draws on her memories of color/pattern" by Joanne Silver, The Boston Herald, 2/17/89