Mary Hortman

Artist Information
Mary Hortman
- Medium: Painting
- Style: Abstract, Figurative, Landscape, Still Life
Mary Hortman is a Texas artist and an Arizona artist currently living in her home town of Athens, Texas.
Mary is self-taught to a large extent, but has studied privately with a number of recognized artists, including most recently Carolyn Anderson. Though she is most recognized for her portraits and figures, she also paints any and all subject matter, including a battle scene commission.
While living in Arizona, Mary showed her work at the “Celebration of Fine Art” and “Arizona Fine Art Expo”, both in Scottsdale. In addition, she showed at Elizabeth Hain Gallery in Scottsdale, Tohono Keh Gallery in Tubac, and in Gallery 7000 in Tucson. She also taught watercolor at the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix.
Also while living in Arizona, she was featured in International Artist magazine in the “Master Painters of the World” section.
Since moving back to Texas, she has begun teaching workshops both in Athens and in other cities. Though most of her art is currently sold to private collectors, she continues to show in galleries, the most recent of which is the Van Ward Gallery in Ogunquit, Maine.
I am compelled to paint. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it, but I am compelled to paint. I don’t pretend to know why I have to paint. Some might say it’s a calling, while others would contend that it is a random genetic disposition, this compulsion to put paint on a canvas. I believe it reflects a deep need to communicate things that cannot be articulated with words; a need, whether stemming from sorrow or from serenity, to communicate an emotional response, and to evoke one in return. My compulsion is to visually convey a moment of shared humanity between viewer and painter; a landscape reminiscent of childhood memory, made golden by the passage of time…a romantic figure whose presence wraps one’s soul in quilted comfort. That mutual knowing moment, whether fleeting or lingering — that is my bliss.