MARY BEVLOCK

First published: Autumn 2024

From day one at a Philadelphia progressive art studio, this artist was confident, versatile and unstoppable

Mary T Bevlock’s artwork is powerfully immediate, particularly her painted portraits. With their bold gazes, prominent teeth, and ears like jug handles, her piercingly observed subjects ought to seem confrontational. Instead, religious figures, actors and singers, animals, friends, and family members exude openness, humour and personality. Although rooted in the picture plane, Bevlock’s subjects appear animated and slightly off-kilter, as if about to laugh or dance out of the frame. The brilliant Lassie (2024), for example, with its exuberant brush strokes and finely shaded hues, seems an instant away from bouncing up to lick the viewer’s face, the very essence of collie dog. Likewise, the portrait of a local rock musician, Tommy Conwell (2021), catches the singer in a guitar-gripping yowl.

Bevlock at her book launch in May, 2022; photo: Samantha Mitchell

Born in 1968 in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bevlock loves her family, her church and making art. Her parents died 20 years ago, and she lives with her sister, her brother-in-law and their children. She goes to church once or twice a week, and from Monday to Friday, the artist can be found at Center for Creative Works (CCW), a progressive art studio in nearby Wynnewood.

Jesters, 2014, watercolour and ink on paper, 18 x 24 in. / 45.5 cm

CCW’s building was originally a car dealership so the 80 or 90 adult artists have a vast amount of space in which to work. The two largest areas – a cafeteria and the main studio – hum with activity. Smaller studio spaces are devoted to different disciplines, such as textiles, printing and ceramics. There is an exhibition alcove, and a sound studio called Pop! Pop! Pop! Records, where artists record original music, songs and spoken word. A woodshop is equipped with safe, accessible tools, including a bicycle- operated lathe designed by a former CCW artist mentor.