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Mary E. Rawlyk

Introduction

Mary Rawlyk is a Canadian artist who made prints in her basement. Rawlyk is married to George Rawlyk and continued her education throughout her adult life while following her husband to the many places he was studying and teaching. Rawlyk has two daughters, Anna and Miriam and was a high school teacher in Math and Science for 3 years before going back to school. Later in her life Rawlyk taught at Dalhousie University’s medical school, she instructed a lab catch up course for students from Newfoundland. When they moved to Kingston, Rawlyk invited a group of local artists into her home to draw. Rawlyk continued drawing and eventually decided to make prints. Rawlyk made prints in the four main types of printmaking: woodcut and linocut, screen stencil processes, etching and intaglio printing, and lithography. Eventually Rawlyk created her own Curriculum Vitae that she submitted to St. Lawrence College, as well as a job application.

Education

Rawlyk studied fine art in New Brunswick at Mt. Allison University in 1960. Previously, Rawlyk obtained a degree in science from McMaster University and graduated from Ontario College of Education with the University of Toronto. Rawlyk could teach Math and Science in high school and taught for a few years before getting married to a Professor at Mt. Allison University, it was after this that Rawlyk started her studies in art. Rawlyk learned painting, printmaking, life drawing, methods and materials and art history. Then moving to New York Rawlyk studied Art at Rochester Memorial Art Gallery for two years, again learning more about printmaking. Rawlyk and her family then moved back to Canada and again enrolled in school. In Halifax, she took night courses at the Nova Scotia College of Art and continued drawing on her own time. She then went on to eventually enroll in Post Graduate Studies at Brighton Polytechnic, in England, for Printmaking.

Themes

Most of Rawlyk's drawings were of her family, as well as some of models and animals. Rawlyk's family and home life were very influential in her art. She made her prints in the basement of her home and drew in the dining room. Rawlyk's life was intertwined with her home responsibilities and her art, they were not separated in her home or her mind. She would often be thinking of her art while completing her domestic duties. Sometimes her domestic life would overwhelm her creative life and her work would be left incomplete. Despite these challenges, Rawlyk was able to have a place in the Canadian printmaking world. Her prints often represented these two lives conflicting. She had a series of prints based on household objects. She wanted to make prints about landscape but it her domestic life was too demanding. Her print, Shading Window, represented this struggle in her art. It was leaves outside of the glass with a shade, representing her view as female artist.

Rawlyk's art slowly became more reflective of her life as a housewife as she realized that other women were struggling with similar issues and annoyances. “And it took me many more years to understand that this personal experience of women is Political, that is, controlled by wider political structures.” Overtly feminist messages worked their way into Rawlyk’s art in the 1980’s, Rawlyk used the apron as a symbol for the private domestic labour of women. Then Rawlk moved to represent the ties as arms and made prints of them, the realism commented on the importance of the problem. The ties as arms made it easy for her to convey messages and emotions, the knot represented the loss of freedom that the household takes from a woman. This was the inspiration behind The Apron Show, exhibited at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University. The Bow Series, two pieces also exhibited at the Agnes, was a comment on how young women are put under a lot of pressure to look a certain way, resulting in a lot of effort being put into one’s beauty. Rawlyk saw this as a loss of freedom, following women being confined to the kitchen instead of being creative. Rawlyk became more concerned about feminist issues and it became very evident in her work. Apron Flags was a piece she created in response to the lack of women’s rights included in the Canadian Constitution in 1982. As well as the disrespect shown in the House of Commons towards the issue of battered women.

The Apron Series drew from Jim Dine’s Bathrobes as a way to use clothing as artworks. Her art also derives from Pop Art Imagery from the 1960’s as it has a strong feminist perspective.

The Housewife Series represented how women were seen as domestic objects by pairing household objects with photographs of her hands and face. She worked on this series for over three years and is considered her most feminist driven work. With this series, she drew attention to the fact that “women’s private domestic labour supports the wider political structures which control women’s lives.”

Artwork

Horizontal Hand Painting

• 1976
• Screen Print
• 56cm x 57cm
• Collection-Art Gallery of Northumberland, 2012
• This depicts dark hands which lighten up the arms, the hands leave grey handprints on the white background.

Sewing

• Triptych of prints
• 1957
• Etching and Serigraph on paper
• Exhibition- Art Gallery of Burlington, 2015. Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queens University 2016.
• These three prints show different parts of the sewing process, the colours black, grey and white are in all three where the colour yellow is only in one.

Wringing Shirt

• 1974

Brushing Hair

• 1978

Collections

Domestic Object Series

• 1977
• This was Rawlyk's first series of prints.

Shading Window

• Domestic Object Series
• Multiple Print Processes
• 1977
• 76.5cm x 56cm
• Ed 20
• Collections- Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Toronto Dominion Bank, T. Eaton Company, Moore Corporation, Patrician Development, British Columbia Central Credit Union
• Exhibitions- 9th Burnaby Biennial Print Show, Printmaking Symposium 1977 Solo Exhibition Agnes Etherington Art Centre, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery solo exhibition 1984., The Mount St. Vincent University Art Gallery 1986, The Kingston Public Library 1980’s, The Art Gallery of Burlington 2015.
• This depicts an image of green leaves framed by white borders with a white window.

Boiling

• Domestic Object Series
• 1973
• Relief printed etched plates
• 56cm x 38cm
• Ed 50
• Arches Paper
• Collections- Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queens University., The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa ON.
• Exhibitions- Solo Exhibition at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queens University 1974. Solo Exhibition at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1985. Mount Saint Vincent University Gallery, 1986. Kingston Public Library, 1980’s.
• This depicts a red spiral element with a black background, there is grey above it with white bubbles forming from the element.

The Housewife Series

Measuring Cup Woman, Reflecting

• The Housewife Series
• 1981-1982
• This print shows Rawlyk's photograph in a mug through the side of the mug with a reflection on a black surface.

The Bow Series

• 1982

The Apron Series

• 1982

Canadian Apron Flag

• The Apron Series
• 1981-1982
• This image shows the Canadian Flag but replaces the maple leaf in the middle with an apron with its ties depicting someone with their hands on their hips. The maple leaf is moved to the border of the flag with half on each side.

Collaborations

In 2006, Rawlyk teamed up with Martha Rosler for an Exhibition at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre entitled Slow Boil. Rosler’s Semiotics of the Kitchen" was the focus of the exhibit. Rawlyk’s contributions consisted of eight etchings and prints. These include “Boiling” and “Measuring Cup Woman.” Each of her pieces of work included all have strong feminist messages pertaining to the domestic women. This complimented Rosler’s video as its message was that women were seen as domestic objects. The Agnes Etherington Art Centre displayed this exhibit as they believed it was relevant to today as a time when “domestic violence and reproductive choice are on the political agenda in Canada and the United States.”

Interpretations

In 2016, Wendy Cain created a floral interpretation of Rawlyk’s triptych prints titled Sewing. This was created for the fundraising gala supporting ArtZone and Agnes Connects. Floral interpretations were also created for two of her other works as well; Wringing Shirt and Brushing Hair.

Videos

In January 2017 Rawlyk uploaded two YouTube videos talking about her printmaking and what influences in her life inspired her to create the things she did. One video is Mary E. Rawlyk - Printmaker. In this video Rawlyk discusses the themes of her work and how her life as a housewife influenced her artwork. The other video is titled Mary E. Rawlyk and it is here Rawlyk shows you how she made her prints and how to make your own prints.