By Invitation Only

Mary Early in conversation with Gateway artist TBD — How Does Your Work Look to a Gallery

Mary Early (born 1975, Washington, DC) lives and works in Washington, DC. She studied visual art, film, and video at Bennington College, and her work has been exhibited at the United States Botanic Garden, Washington Project for the Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Second Street Gallery, the Austrian Cultural Forum, Galerie Im Ersten, Kloster Schloss Salem, Kunstlerbund Tubingen, the American University Museum, the Sun Valley Museum of Art, Freight Gallery, and WAS Gallery, among other regional and national galleries. 

Her early work incorporated formed concrete, tarpaper and paraffin wax, fabricated wood structures, and, over the last two decades, surfaces coated with wax as a method of preserving or concealing an object within. Recent works have relied solely on solid forms cast in wax, abandoning the use of any permanent armature. Temporary installations are guided by schematic drawings and plans, which then serve as a permanent record. 

In 2014 she exhibited her first large-scale installation of wax lines at Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA, followed by temporary installations in response to various historical sites in Salem, Germany (2016) and Tubingen Germany (2017). In 2017 she participated in the exhibition “Twist-Layer-Pour” at the American University Museum, which included Untitled [Curve], an installation of thousands of beeswax lines assembled on the floor of the museum. In 2018 she was commissioned to create a temporary installation at the Sun Valley Museum of Art, Sun Valley Idaho. This work took the form of two intersecting curtains of hanging beeswax lines bisecting a 12’ foot x 18’ foot room, providing an immersive and enclosed viewing space. Recent exhibitions include Līnea XI at ArtEnables, Washington DC (2021) and Līnea Studies, a survey of recent works on paper accompanying a site-specific installation at Gallery 2112, Washington DC (2022). In Fall 2024 she exhibited at WAS Gallery Project Space in Washington DC. Her work is currently on view in Radius: Land Form at the Delaware Contemporary Art Center.

Early’s work is included in the collections of the US Department of State/Embassy of Panama and Embassy of Jordan, the District of Columbia Art Bank, the District of Columbia Wilson Building Art Collection, the American University Museum (Corcoran Collection) among other public and private collections. She is a recipient of the Artist Fellowship Grant from the DC Commission on Arts & Humanities, Washington DC (2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2011, 2009, 2007).

Early is the director of HEMPHILL Artworks, Washington, DC, and serves on the board of Washington Sculptors Group (2006 – present) and has served on the board of Hamiltonian Artists (2015-2024). She handles the work of contemporary artists including Steven Cushner, Robin Rose, Renée Stout, Julie Wolfe, Workingman Collective, and The Mingering Mike Collection, among others, as well as specializing in the work of William Christenberry (Estate), Jacob Kainen (Estate), Willem de Looper (Estate), Alma Woodsey Thomas, and the artists of the Washington Color School. She works with living artists and artists’ heirs on long-range planning, and with private and institutional collectors to build and manage significant collections. She has a special interest in public art and community engagement, career development for emerging artists, as well as the materials and processes of contemporary sculpture.