Check Out Mary Chabre’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Chabre.

Hi Mary, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today. 
Throughout school, art materials and the many opportunities to use them were available, plus the generous and creative art teachers and an artistic aunt made those years full of creative possibilities. I wanted to major in art at USC, but my father convinced me that if I became a teacher, I could always support myself. So, after graduation for two years, I taught first grade first in Watts and then in the East Valley. 

My husband of 63 years, Gus, and I raised three children in Newport Beach, where we moved in 1965. and lived in Eastbluff, Corona del Mar, and finally on the Balboa Peninsula in a 1915 beach house. Ours was the house that always had art materials available for kids in the neighborhood, which led to some pretty messy children. 

In 1972, I needed to go back to work as my husband went to law school. I started 3 businesses: Antiques Are Fun, Mary Chabre Interiors, and partnered in Design Pak II, a commercial/medical design firm. 

Thirty years after USC I finally did earn a degree in Studio Art at UCI. I studied with Andrea Bowers, Steve Criqui, and Gifford Myers. While I was there, I received an Artsbridge scholarship that sent arts students to public schools to teach. After graduation, I continued volunteering and providing materials for another 21 years as an art teacher for second and fourth-grade children. 

Travel has been a big part of our lives, beginning with home exchanges in the Black Forest in Germany and later twice in Paris. My husband often worked in Europe, so I would often meet him there when he finished. Trekking in Nepal, Peru, New Zealand, Spain, Guatemala, Panama, Borneo, and Italy. I have never counted the number of countries, but we have seen a lot of Europe, South and Central America, and a few places in Asia. Still, there is so much of the world we want to see. 

But I really wanted to spend more time doing what I loved and what I now had time to do: making art! 

For many years, I painted oils on canvas. The subject matter was at first abstract figurative, then moved on the pure abstraction. However, over the years, the work, although always abstract, vacillates between pure subjective and with people, plants, and many thematic subjects, creeping in. For a few years, I made aluminum wall and hanging sculptures. One summer I was taking a painting class at Anderson Ranch and was having difficult trying a new painting technique. Harmony Hammond, our instructor, suggested in order to free me up to try painting on metal. Over the weekend, I went to Ace Hardware and bought the only metal that I could transport easily: a roll of aluminum flashing. I asked them to cut it in 12” squares, but when the salesman started unrolling it, he lost control and, “Boing,” it went curling and bouncing everywhere. I said: “Stop! Don’t cut it,” and began making curling, free, painted sculptures. 

Now, after several months of not painting, I am working again and am just beginning a series based upon predatory plants. Don’t ask me why. Who knows what will emerge this time? 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think what I wrote on the previous page covers this. But I do struggle with rejection, so haven’t tried too hard to market my work. Joining the Los Angeles Art Association and participating in their exhibitions has been helpful. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I feel so much joy when I am in the studio! 

What matters most to you? Why?
At this point in my life, I just want to do what I want to do, so I would say what matters is enjoying what I’m doing in the moment and not worrying too much about it.

Image Credits
Mary Chabre