marymattinglystudio

Artist Mary Mattingly is best known for large-scale sculptures of ecosystems and imagined futures

Mary Mattingly creates photographic collages and public sculptures of imaginary futures like Limnal Lacrimosa (of Lakes, Tears) in Montana; Vanishing Point in the UK; and Swale, a floating food forest in New York. Mattingly was awarded a 2023 Guggenheim fellowship. Her sculpture, Ebb of a Spring Tide, opened in May 2023 at Socrates Sculpture Park.

Art is everything. It's love and its longing, it slows time and asks people to dream.

Salt Tolerant Plants growing in the Water Clock at Ebb of a Spring Tide at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York
Ebb of a Spring Tide's Water Clock overlooking Manhattan
Vessels in the Water Clock keeping "tidal time"

Public art, land art, native plants, salt tolerant plants, halophyte plants, plant art, rising tides, rising sea levels, climate change art, eco art, art and ecology, climate change, sculpture park commission

Transformation

Public art presents interactive and visionary scenarios. It challenges perceptions of the present and motivates people to openly engage while responsibly contributing to tomorrow.

Visit "Ebb of a Spring Tide"

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"While he mused on the effect of the flowing sands, he was seized from time to time by hallucinations in which he himself began to move with the flow." ― Kōbō Abe, The Woman in the Dunes

Limnal Lacrimosa (of lakes, tears) is a large-scale water clock in the valley of Glacier National Park. It utilized glacial precipitation to tell glacial time for nine months until the clock finally ran dry. Water rained from the building's top floor to the bottom floor, filling vessels with water that would overflow and eventually cycle back up to the top floor. While building Limnal Lacrimosa I thought of the Kōbō Abe novel, The Woman in the Dunes.

Visit "Limnal Lacrimosa"

Load video: Swale, a floating food forest by Mary Mattingly

In New York City, foraging from public land has been off-limits for over a century. Swale is a floating food forest in New York where people can pick fresh food for free. Swale led to NYC's first 24-hour Foodway at Concrete Plant Park in the South Bronx, and was a proof-of-concept for a future, more permanent floating food forest that incorporates perennial fruits, vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants.

More about "Swale"

Bundle Sculptures

In a personal project I began in 2013, I bundled belongings into sculptural forms to make them more iconic. I utilized the bundles for performances about my own consumption. At a certain point, I had bundled most of my possessions. Then, people started mailing me objects and sharing their stories. I continue building bundles from meaningful objects.

"Bundle Sculptures" | Soft Sculptures

still life, abstract art, abstract still life photograph, wall art, contemporary art, modern art, met art, artsy, wall art prints, performance art, wall decor, art cafe, robert smithson, minimalist art, art house, framed prints, giclee prints, geometric art, art shop,

...holding space for wonder

"Among the pieces, trembling softly but perceptibly, like a sleeping bird, there throbbed, mysteriously, a compass." ― Jorge Luis Borges, Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius

Photographs depict both the intimate and the infinite. They inspire wonder and possibilities, and they reveal new questions.

More about the "Poetry" series

The journey of Last Light/First Light began on the West Coast of the United States. Serving as documentation of light and time, this series is the result of a double exposure taken once a year on the shortest day of the year.
Visit the "Last Light/First Light" series

metal prints, time, salt art, accumulation, durational art, wall art, contemporary art, modern art, met art, artsy, wall art prints, performance art, wall decor, art cafe, robert smithson, minimalist art, art house, framed prints, giclee prints, geometric art, art shop,

...Photography and Dreams

"...The tides, when the Moon swung closer, rose so high nobody could hold them back. There were nights when the Moon was full and very, very low, and the tide was so high that the Moon missed a ducking in the sea by a hair's breadth; well, let's say a few yards anyway. Climb up on the Moon? Of course we did. All you had to do was row out to it in a boat and, when you were underneath, prop a ladder against her and scramble up..." ― Italo Calvino, The Distance of the Moon

Salt Moons were made by soaking steel disks in ocean water, and photographing them at different stages of their transformation. From there, Salt Moons were printed on aluminum to reveal an elemental connection between both processes. These photographs signify the passage of time and minerals of the cosmos.

Desire Lines, from the Pipelines and Permafrost series
Rematriation, from the Pipelines and Permafrost series
Retreat and Advance, from the Pipelines and Permafrost series

Learn more about the "Pipelines and Permafrost" series

Studio News

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Photographs from Ebb of a Spring Tide

Ebb of a Spring Tide is a collection of original salt photographs of moon sculptures at spring tide. The photographs are encased in salt collected from New York's East River and sealed. Interested in...

Photographs from Ebb of a Spring Tide

Ebb of a Spring Tide is a collection of original salt photographs of moon sculptures at spring tide. The photographs are encased in salt collected from New York's East River and sealed. Interested in...
Rosehip Photo Developer - Art & Ecology / DIY P...

Rosehips contain polyphenols, which have applications for film and photo development. Download PDF for instructions. Rosehips are packed with vitamins and minerals and are considered a superfood. They resemble small apples and crab...

Rosehip Photo Developer - Art & Ecology / DIY P...

Rosehips contain polyphenols, which have applications for film and photo development. Download PDF for instructions. Rosehips are packed with vitamins and minerals and are considered a superfood. They resemble small apples and crab...
The Integrated Studio

I know that the visual arts have the potential to make big contributions to meeting the climate crisis with courage and creativity and that everything we do as artists matters. These are my...

The Integrated Studio

I know that the visual arts have the potential to make big contributions to meeting the climate crisis with courage and creativity and that everything we do as artists matters. These are my...
Sculpture Magazine

Click here to download a PDF For Mary Mattingly, art is about life and survival. Her interlinked earth-, water-, food-, and community-centered projects attune us to the planet’s basic rhythms and needs...

Sculpture Magazine

Click here to download a PDF For Mary Mattingly, art is about life and survival. Her interlinked earth-, water-, food-, and community-centered projects attune us to the planet’s basic rhythms and needs...