We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marypat Wager a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Marypat, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
As a child, I was always making things with whatever I could find outside in nature. As a emerging young artist, I thought painting was the medium for me. I found that with all my paintings I was adding objects directly to the canvass and integrating them into the painting. They became more like relief sculptures than paintings.
In my early college years, I took a welding course and never looked back. I found welding to be magical! Here I was a young petite woman able to now weld heavy, large pieces of steel together and I loved it!
It was at that time I began my search to collect anything metal that could be welded. My sources were from old abandoned farms, local steel industries, estate sales and the local junk yards.
I build a large warehouse studio which houses finished work, numerous metal and wood objects and of course, a welding area.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Like most artists, I worked as a college and high school art teacher to afford my habit of making sculpture. Teaching took up most of my time, but I still managed to make and exhibit my work nationally and internationally.
My focus has always been on making art – not necessarily selling my work. Although, I have had many sales through gallery shows, and clients coming directly to my studio.
As an assemblage artist, I draw from my “visual vocabulary” of industrial, agricultural, and found objects that act as conduits for evoking memories, preserving history and hopefully communicating with the viewer.
My collection of objects that I work with set me apart from other artists. Particularly the the beautiful pieces of molten steel called “slag” from a local steel casting industry which is now defunct in this area.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
As a wife, mother, teacher and artist it has always been important to me to keep my artistic spirit alive. I learned early in life that I was happiest when I was creating.
As an artist mother, I hired babysitters to be with my children so I could work in my studio on weekends. I have had to work through the difficulty of managing my life to continue to make art. I never considered making art a luxury – it has always been a necessary thing for me.
It is a constant juggling act to make work, submit to shows, exhibit and travel to show my art, teach and do all the things that mothers do!
I began exhibiting when artist mothers were not taken seriously. This made me more determined to make art. I found if I didn’t use my first name, Mary, I had more exhibition advantages when I was showing in the early 1980’s. Fortunately, women, mother artists are taken more seriously today!
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
At this point, in my life, my goal is to use most of the inventory in my collection to make work that speaks to the viewer.
Work using the tools, machinery, and vintage objects from a by gone era of industrial production, and the agrarian way of life in unique one of a kind wall and free standing sculptures. It is my goal to make work that preserves history, evokes memories and communicates to the viewer.
Contact Info:
- Website: marypatwager.com
- Instagram: mpatwager