Mary's Art Starts in the Garden

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Exploring Art and Nature as a Counterbalance to Chaos
September 2026

What am I doing to stay sane in these crazy times?
 
This is a good question. There isn’t one answer.
 
This is what I’m NOT doing.
 
I’m not doomscrolling or watching traditional television news programs. I subscribe to independent news sources to stay informed about what is occurring around the world, since I believe it’s important not be an ostrich hiding my head in the sand.
 
So, what AM I doing?
 
I'm a multi-disciplinary artist using paint, pixels, sound and soil to explore the healing counterbalance between centering and chaos. Layering my large and loud floral paintings with abstractions inspired by images of the galaxy are juxtapositions of seemingly opposing entities; instead, they are representations of harmony and balance.

"From that day, I paid attention to what I’d experienced and began to regularly walk throughout my garden. I didn't look for weeds or work that needed to be done. Instead, I observed the textures and the nuances in the colors of the various leaves, the ephemerality of flowers, and the seasonal changes of life and death." ~ M. A.

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​Finding Harmony and Balance
 
Dealing with stress is a skill that I developed over many years of living through trying times. As a woman in a high-pressure, almost all-male industry and single parent of two challenging sons, stress was a constant for me. It wore me down. It exhausted me. I was angry and often bitter. I think I spent ten years without smiling. My health and my body were compromised by this immense stress I was living with.
 
One day the stress was so bad that I ran from my house and stood in the middle of my garden. I found myself looking up at the tops of the trees, slowly rocking back and forth on my two feet. A wonderful calmness seemed to flow over me like a gentle cloak as I met with nature. The stress seeped out of my pores, my body, my heart. It was an amazing experience for me since it happened so quickly. The change in me was dramatic.

From that day, I paid attention to what I’d experienced and began to regularly walk throughout my garden. I didn't look for weeds or work that needed to be done. Instead, I observed the textures and the nuances in the colors of the various leaves, the ephemerality of flowers, and the seasonal changes of life and death. Slow walking among the plants and flowers in my garden, along with close observation of minute details, restored calm in me whenever stress again arose in my core. I had no language for the healing I was feeling, but I began to pay attention to the process.

I was later guided by a fellow artist to investigate the healing arts movement where neuroarts and neuroaesthetics are fields of study exploring how art and aesthetic experience affect the brain. One of the areas of study is called “slow looking,” which states that sustained attention to one thing is an antidote to the fast and complicated lives so many of us currently experience — and this slowing down reduces stress. Scientists are also studying gardening alongside the creation of art, finding measurable brain similarities which places both areas of creativity within the same beneficial and healthful life experiences. Working with mediums, whether paint, clay or soil, has been shown to reduce cortisol levels. On the contrary, multi-tasking is something I find exhausting as do so many people I speak with.

​A Shared Experience
 
Although I have always had an intuitive understanding of the healing aspects of art and nature, through years of experience and study, I have now fully embraced that my creative and multilayered lifestyle improves my quality of life. This is the focus that I am compelled to share with my viewers. I hope viewers of my large microcosm/macrocosm paintings will slow down, look closely, and explore the wonder of nature.
 
With the immersive installation I am creating, I’ve designed a sensory experience of slow walking in my garden with videos of my flowers, audio of the birds that sing there, a hint of water trickling, and wind rustling in a quiet, personal and enclosed environment. This sharing of centering and calmness through visualizing nature is the focus of my work.
 
A solo exhibition of this current work titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will open at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York, on Election Day, November 3, 2026. The exhibition includes 15 large oil paintings, five digital artworks, and an environmental installation, intended to provide a few moments of centering and show that it is possible to transcend to a form of peacefulness in times of chaos through art.

Click image for the link Mary was given that altered her view of what her art is really about. 
Photo Courtesy: Mary Ahern

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PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS:
​2026
Closing My Eyes to See
Finding Home, Purpose, and Feminist Community at Ceres Gallery
2025
Much More Than An Art Show: A Surprise Invitation Prompted the Documentation of My Life's Work
Your Body Is Like Your Garden: Pay Attention to Signs of Distress
Walking on the Paths Carved by Centuries of Women Artists
2024​
I’m Aging Gracefully by Finding Creative Ways to Continue Doing the Things I Enjoy
A Strategy to Embrace: Lifelong Learning
Awakenings in the Garden: An Artist's Journey
Women Helping Women: A Recipe for Success
2023
A Virtual Visitor Had Me Contemplating My Lifelong Career in the Arts
My Dual Passions

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