Mary Corp & Dennis Zupan
This May, Gallery at the Park is showcasing an exciting new 2D and 3D exhibition from Mary Corp and Dennis Zupan!
Mary Corp is a retired agricultural scientist and educator whose knowledge of nature and passion for exploring unanswered questions inform her creative voice. Her paintings are often inspired by the striking beauty she sees in everyday scenes and common objects.
Corp’s art captures nature and the environment, especially water, sunlight, and weather. Her paintings express her joy and exuberance about life combined with her positive attitudes, caring beliefs, and knowledge of rural lifestyles.
Corp has lived in the Pacific Northwest her whole life, yet she often travels the globe to visit new places, meet new people, and explore other cultures. She loves adventuring and searching for landscapes and creatures that will inspire new works.
“I hope that people viewing the art will find space in the painting to add to the story from their own imaginations,” Corp says.
Dennis Zupan is a potter and jewelry maker who has spent more than 30 years teaching those art forms in public schools, colleges, and universities. When creating jewelry pieces, he strives to make the silversmithing complement the stone it surrounds.
Zupan graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in art education before going on to earn an MFA in ceramic sculpture from Utah State University.
After falling in love with the beauty of Anasazi black-on-white pottery, Zupan took several workshops from a great Anasazi pot replicator, who taught him ancient pottery techniques of the Southwest Pueblo people.
In 2014, Zupan had a stroke that stopped everything for a while. He lost a lot of his muscle strength and memory of his art skills; however, he was grateful for what he had left. He decided to slow down and start over, which is when he and his wife Betty moved to Washington.
Zupan has continued to create pottery and jewelry in Richland, but he misses running into former students in Utah and hearing them say, “Mr. Zupan, remember me?”
The Corp & Zupan Exhibit is on display at the Gallery from April 23 through May 25. The artist reception is on Friday, May 3, from 5 to 7 p.m.