About Carolyn

About Carolyn

I’m Carolyn

Hello! I am Carolyn, a Miami based multidiscipline artist whose creative methodology uses videographical performance art, conceptual photography, and large-scale fine arts painting to explore ideas of personal struggle and pain as it relates to our collective human experience.

Beginning my artist journey with photography, I transitioned into performance art and painting as a means to express myself through movement. My large-scale abstract paintings are created using a mop as my paint brush allowing me to work with large body movements and create work grounded in understanding force, restraint, intuition and spontaneity.

I received my Masters of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and my work has been most recently exhibited at the Pan American Art Projects gallery in Miami, FL and in a solo show at Studio 703 in Houston, TX and at J.Mackey Gallery in East Hampton, NY. My work has also been recognized by the Shorty Awards as well as the Siena International Photo Awards and I was an overall winning artist of the 2016 IPPA Awards.

I am also an avid TikToker, Instagrammer, and YouTuber to view my TikTok please follow @carolynmara and Instagram please follow @carolyn_mara

I am currently renovating a new home in Miami, Florida with my two sons and young daughter.

Artistic Endeavors: A Chronicle of Resilience and Expression

CV

Education

  • Master of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, Photo, Video, and Related Media, New York, NY, 2006.

  • Bachelor of Art, Southern Methodist University, Psychology with a minor in Photography, Dallas, TX, 2002.

Exhibitions:

2022 Group Show, J.Mackey Gallery East Hampton, “Visiting Artists Show” August 18 - September 10.

2022 Group Show, ArtFields 2022, Featured as a Competing Artist, Lake City, South Carolina, April 22 - May 30

2022 Solo Show, Soho House Port Fell Studios, Barcelona, Spain, March 14 - April 14.

2022 Solo Show, Mrs. Toolip Art Gallery, Featuring A New Series of Signature Mop Paintings, Career Ausiás Marc 14, Barcelona, March 31 - April 07.

2021 Joint Show, Pan American Art Projects, “Three American’s” Exhibition, featuring Mop Paintings, September 25 - December 31.

2021 Solo Show, Studio 703, Houston, TX, featuring Mop Paintings, October 05 - December 21.

Awards and Honors

  • Commended, Conceptual, Creative Photo Awards (Siena Awards), 2021 

  • Nominated, Parenting, Family, and Kids, Shorty Awards 2020

  • Third Place, Photographer of the Year, IPPAwards, 2016

  • Winner, Category Children, IPPAwards, 2014

  • Winner, Category People, IPPAwards, 2014

  • Winner, Category Children, IPPAwards 2013

Public Writing

Evoking Emotion Through Bold Brushstrokes

Artist Statement

From my earliest memories, a passion for creative expression has been nurtured within me. After exploring a range of mediums, including photography and live art, I found myself as an abstract painter whose artistic expression emanates from an intimate dance between chaos and control, movement and stillness, form and the formless. My work is a manifestation of energy and emotion transmuted onto the canvas through the unconventional use of a mop, allowing me to extend my reach and magnify my gestures. The large-scale pieces I create are not mere visual spectacles but are a symphony of my entire being’s rhythm, a tangible residue of my interaction with the unseen forces around us.

The pronounced circles that often appear in my work are symbolic reflections of unity, wholeness, and infinity. They emerge organically as I relinquish control, allowing the mop to become an extension of my body, moving fluidly and deliberately across the canvas. This method demands a harmony of intention and surrender, each stroke a conscious embodiment of my thoughts, emotions, and the physicality of my existence.

The process of creating with full-body movements is an exhilarating journey of self-discovery and transformation. It allows the unseen internal landscapes to flow outward, revealing hidden layers of my psyche. This visceral approach to painting is influenced by the spontaneity of Action Painting and the contemplative nature of Zen art, reflecting a synthesis of dynamic motion and meditative stillness.

The scale of my paintings invites viewers to immerse themselves in the visual experience, to perceive not only the seen but also the unseen— the energy, the emotion, the essence that breathes life into the paint. The vivacity of colors, the interplay of light and shadow, and the myriad textures unveiled are conversations between my inner world and the boundless universe, resonating with the universal dance of creation and dissolution.

Artists like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko have informed my exploration of abstraction, inspiring me to delve deeper into the uncharted territories of expression and perception. Their commitment to conveying the profound through the abstract has propelled my journey to transcend the visible and touch the ethereal.

In essence, my work is a testament to the boundless possibilities of human expression when body, mind, and spirit converge. It is an invitation to experience a transcendent reality, to feel the pulse of existence, and to reflect on the interconnected dance of all living beings. My aspiration is to evoke a sense of wonder, introspection, and a renewed awareness of the self and the cosmos within every observer