AN URBAN SKY
Dimensions variable: Each individual panel 14″x14″x 2″.
Each panel: a collage of gritty, grey, news clipping encrusted oil paint on wood on one side and midnight blue enamel on the other; motor, steel, aluminum, paper-maché trees and the possibility to add the sound of rain and thunder (by activating by a floor mounted button).

Urban Sky explores the possibility of creating an evolving narrative – in this case, a changing skyline – through the use of sound, movement and visual clues.

For this, the idea was to create an up-dated, modular version of a Baroque sky – to provide city dwellers with a bit of heaven inside their urban spaces. The piece can be ceiling- or wall-mounted. The 16 individual panels also can be re-configured to respond to the architecture of the space in which the piece is exhibited, and the wall or ceiling behind the panels can be painted various colors or mirrored. Additionally, a button is included that once stepped on, recreates the sound of rain and thunder.

Nine of the individual panels are motorized. On one side of these is a highly textured surface, painted cool grey (in homage to Nicholas de Staël); the other side is midnight blue. A motor flips these panels from one side to the other to suggest the change from night to day.

Exhibition Venues
Cushing-Martin Gallery at Stonehill College, Easton, MA, Move Me: Kineticism in Art, 2008.
Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA, Gadgets, Gizmos and Games, (catalog), 2002.
University of Massachusetts, Hampden Gallery, Amherst, MA, New England/ New York/New Talent (Curator: Jeannette Ingherman), 2001.
The Dietrich Gallery, Allston, MA, The Dietrich Biennial, 2001.
Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, MA, Constructions (miniature version), 2001.
Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, NY, NY, Venice 2001 (miniature version), 2001.
Trans Hudson Gallery, NY, NY, TransCultural Exchange: nomads forever, 2000.
Boston College, McMullen Museum of Art, Chestnut Hill, MA, 25 Years of Excellence, 1999.
District Fine Arts, Washington, DC, Mary Sherman: An Urban Sky, 1999.

Selected Press
Boston Globe, Boston, MA, (Sept. 19), “Collection of Contraptions: New Art Installation offers Fanciful Look at Gadgets,” Robert Knox, 2002.
The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Amherst, MA, (Mar. 13), “Up Next,” Christina L. Barber, 2001.
The Boston Herald, Boston, MA, (Jan. 18), “Arts in Brief,” 2001.
Arlington Advocate, Arlington, MA, (Sept. 20), “Center for the Arts Exhibit Explores Real and Imagined Constructions,” Lauren O’Neal, 2001.
Boston Magazine, Boston, MA, (Aug.), “Spotlight Art: Constructions,” Miles Unger, 2001.
The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, (Aug. 23), “Quick Hits: Art,” Christopher Muther, 2001.
The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, (Aug. 19), “Constructions. 2001.
boston.sidewalk.com, (Aug. 8), “Boston College: Celebrating 25 Years of Excellence in the Visual Arts,” Charles Guiliano, 1999.
The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, (July 30), “Boston College Show Showcases Faculty,” Christine Temin, 1999.