We recently connected with Mary Hoffman and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

There are several projects that I’ve worked on that are very meaningful to me, it’s difficult to choose.

I met a man while plein air painting downtown Charleston who had the most amazing countenance. A former Veteran, I asked if I could paint him right there. He happily agreed and told me all about his life while I painted him from life, a portrait portraying a Charleston homeless man who helped each of his friends find their forever home (they dubbed him “Moses” because he led them out of the homeless camp). A few months after I painted his portrait, the VA finally awarded his own home where his portrait now hangs. Another meaningful project was when I was asked to paint a Portrait Posthumously of a beautiful 10 year old girl who didn’t survive her cancer diagnosis. Then to honoring a man who works at the Exchange Building in downtown Charleston by painting his portrait. This man, who never learned to read, would hitchhike 30 miles every day to faithfully work his 25+ year janitorial job. The gentleman who commissioned me to paint this portrait, purchased a car for him after hearing his story that tells the tale of determination in the face of hardship and his never-give-up spirit. Through it all, he never failed to smile and exude joy; grateful for everything he had.

These brave souls deserve to be honored and celebrated yet we never hear of them. In some small way, I hope that by painting their portrait, they receive a sort of memorialization that honors them and causes viewers to ask about their story one day.

Mary, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My parents recognized in me an interest in drawing and painting at a very young age and did their best to foster it. At six years of age my father enrolled me in my first Oil Painting Class and that is where my love of painting began for me.

In the following years I took as many art classes as I could from Pastel painting to Cartooning, fiber arts to Clay and sculpture.

One of my high school Art Teachers realized my skills and organized for me a short list of Art Schools he recommend I apply to for College. I landed at The Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) a Five Year Fine Art program (that has since been reduced to a 4 year BFA degree) in which the first two years are the foundation years of extensive study in all Art Disciplines.
Painting and drawing Portraits to earn money helped put me through school. Little did I know that it would be Portraiture that I enjoyed painting the best.

Post College, I worked as an Illustrator, Graphic Designer designing logos and illustrations for companies in my town. I painted sets and murals for theaters, churches and private homes. But it was always my portraits that I enjoyed doing the most. I moved to a Southeast Resort and sketched portraits for the tourists during the seasonal summer months and the transitional seasons (spring and fall) would teach Drawing, Life Drawing and Portrait Painting while catching up on Portrait Commissions during the off season.

I had to put my art career on hold for about a year when my husband and I moved to Charleston SC to open up a homemade Ice Cream/ Coffee Shop in town. After about a year I explained to my husband that he might as well cut off my right arm if I can no longer create and paint. So he blessed me by cutting me loose to get back to my passion of creating and teaching art.

The Gibbes Museum of Art had a Building called the Gibbes Studio where art classes were offered and I was able to teach in the evening and help my husband at the Ice Cream Store during the day.

But my art repertoire took off and I branched out when a new Art Gallery came to town and hired me to work two days a week selling art. This was an entirely new venture for me and I loved being exposed to the variety of work created by International Artists.

I was so inspired and I truly loved finding the right piece for the client; so much so that in my part time position, the Gallery said I produced over 50% of all the sales even amongst the full time Consultants. So they asked if I would agree to work full time and be the Gallery Director. My efforts must have been noticed by a few other galleries in town because I found myself being approached by two other Galleries at the same time.
Despite my desire to stay where I was, one local Gallery made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. After about a year I found myself yearning again to paint. And the Gallery at which I worked offered to show my work. This was my first official Gallery Representation. Up until this time, I was discovered by my clients. Now a Gallery wanted to bring my work to the client.
The entire experience taught me more than I could have learned in Art School.

After the birth of my daughter, I took my first plein air painting workshop with Kevin Beck in the North Carolina mountains where I met some of the most wonderful artists with whom I am still friends today. This workshop led me to study under Rick McClure at his Charleston workshop. Plein Air Painting was the bug that bit me and I was hooked! In Rick McClure’s workshop I met local plein air painters that invited me to paint weekly with them. Plein air painting opened up opportunities for me to participate in Plein Air Paint Outs all over the Carolinas and Maine and now Florida.

I still love painting the portrait but plein air landscape is now an integral part of my regular discipline. Painting en plein air assisted in elevating all of my studio work. I’ve since learned that painting from life is essential to learning to paint well. It is my preference to paint from life whenever possible. But even if painting from a photograph or digital image is necessary, the experience I’ve gained by painting from life aids in expressing the flat image of the photo.

So the experience I’ve gained starting our own “mom & pop” small business, to working with clients in the Gallery to Painting out-of-doors in the open air has qualified me and elevated my ability to work with and help my clients realize their vision (when commissioned) in ways I would not have otherwise learned.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

The one thing that non creates might not consider when encountering an Artist or Creative in general, and that is that when an Artist puts on display a finished work, they are not only putting something out for the Public to view and critique and/or criticize, the Artist is displaying a piece of themselves in a very vulnerable way.

Artists of any level of success arrived there surviving many battle scars and wounds as a result of exposing themselves to the scrutiny of the general public. A piece of the Artist’s soul is being placed on display for all to see hoping for rave reviews but sometimes getting knocked down. Hopefully the experience of any Artist is to learn to “move on” and not take whatever happens personally (whether good or bad). And hopefully the knocks aren’t so regular that they dissuade the Artist to continue to press on. The worst that could happen is if an Artist’s career is on the cusp of Great Discovery only to quit out of disillusion.

This is not a plea for those who are not Creatives to be gentler or less critical. Hopefully, what’s brought to light explains what Artists go through when they create only to present to the viewer the very thing they put their heart and soul into.

Not every Artist’s “Voice” can be understood to all people. That is what makes Art so great. Grab a hold of what speaks to you. Or maybe try to learn a “new language” but know that there was a flesh and blood person behind the creation of that work.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

The one thing I wish I could have taken more advantage of early on, which is one of the most valuable resources an Artist can get, is to ASK those Artists whom I admire for their advice and guidance. There is such a treasure trove of resource in other Artists who are generally happy to share their advice. Early on, I always thought I had to do all the work on my own.

I was very fortunate, however, to have come into contact with successful Artists. These are Artists who became friends and who offered to lift me up to their level. Somehow I have always found favor in the eyes of fellow artists. And I am so grateful for that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://maryhoffmanfineart.com
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