Mary Althea Parker: Abstract Impulse

This exhibition is a small selection of Mary Althea Parker’s works held by the WCU Fine Art Museum, focusing primarily on Parker’s paintings made after 1950.

Mary Althea Parker: Abstract Impulse
Exhibition: June 15 - August 24, 2018 

Mary Althea Parker was a passionate painter and educator who dedicated her career to exploring abstraction. In 1948, Parker saw an exhibition of Hans Hofmann's work at the Addison Gallery of American Art that had a significant impact on her paintings. Hofmann's "brand" of abstraction, with its vibrant color and dynamic energy, resonated with Parker, and motivated her to take classes with Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

 While many of her titles continued to reference the real world, her approach to painting shifted to being non-representational and followed Hofmann's credo that "There are bigger things to be seen in nature than the object." This exhibition is a small selection of Parker's works held by the WCU Fine Art Museum, focusing primarily on Parker's paintings made after 1950.