Marie Mastronardo had solo shows in NYC and upstate New York and is often invited to be in group shows. She currently lives in the Hudson Valley. Marie's oil paintings are primarily of family, friends, models and nature. Her sculptures are of women men, and family group -- sculpted in clay, cast in a mold and recreated in plaster. Her bas-reliefs are of nude dancing women with flowers, influenced by the women's liberation movement of the 1970s. Later she took a pottery class "for the fun of it," little suspecting that would lead to a passion for creating what one art critic called "figurative abstractions of voluminous form with an eggshell delicacy. " These pieces take shape one thin coil at a time from the ground up and evolve into free-flowing vessels and sculptures. Marie calls this "freeing the form." Ancient Egyptians urns and vessels, the Greek Venus, Cyclatic and Islamic, Oriental sculpture, and nature sometimes served as her inspiration.
Mastronardo's formal training began with a BA in art from Hunter College followed by: a year in Europe; a decade long association with the Art Students League; studying drawing with Marshall Glasier; painting with Julian Levi; and sculpture with John Hovannes. Marie described her first encounter with the art world as a fifth grader on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as follows: "I remember the day as if it was yesterday seeing for the first time the elegant stairway to the second floor, and viewing the magnificent Renaissance paintings. It opened up a new world that has sustained me to this day."
