Mary Ann Wakely has always been a casual painter but in recent years she began to sell her art. Since she was very young, Wakely has used her painting as “a way to make sense of life, or to get out of [her] head altogether.” Perhaps it is because her work is visceral instead of orchestrated that she has been so well-received; people connect deeply with her expressive, passionate paintings. It is also easy to identify with her work because “nothing is really solved or dissolved in the work”; it is simply a place for ideas to interact, to flow in and out of consciousness.

Wakely’s paintings are heavily reliant on chains of cause and effect – as she explains, “a line placed here influences a line over there, a color can stand alone magnificently, create tension, or sing supremely with another.” Instead of trying to establish an end result, she lets the lines and colors lead her around the painting; after all, “the thrill is in the journey and being there to witness, participate, and share it.”

In addition to creating her own beautiful art, Wakely is the curator and art director of a contemporary international art gallery in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, the Three Ravens Gallery.