Mary Klotz

About Mary Klotz

My dad saved a drawing I made when I was 2 1/2 years old- a recognizable face. In first grade, drawing a mural with crayons at school, my hand got tired so I switched hands… I have always been a “maker”. I’ve studied many media, each to a level enabling making what I envision and inventing/discovering/inspiring new ideas and processes. I don’t dabble. The various mediums inform one another and hybrid projects evolve. I have always been a teacher. I offer a page in my sketchbook to any kid nearby.

It seems I readily see unusual connections; am undaunted by hurdles. When an idea appeals to me, it usually evolves into a series of explorations. I’ll make several copies of a piece in progress and then work each to completion in a different way (divergent thinker and maker). I draw, paint (watercolor, acrylic), weave cloth, I can spin yarn, dye fibers, make baskets, do beadwork (and make glass beads in a torch when I want a particular thing). I work with paper. My triaxial weaving has been on the cover of a math magazine and I’ve presented at national (and one international) art/maker events, written for beadwork, rug hooking, and other magazines. In each area, people tend to think that is the thing that I do, or, that I’m scattered. But the hybridized work that unfolds is a product of my familiarity with an expanse of materials and processes and it’s all connected. If I’m enamored of an idea and need to learn more to make what I envision, I study to gain the skills and information the project requires. I enjoy custom design when the fit with the client is good. I love what happens when a kid learns/makes something new and is enamored, empowered, inspired. (Such things still happen for me as well. )