Mary Coss
Born in Detroit, MI and raised in the neighboring city of Dearborn, artist Mary Coss credits much of whom she has become today as a testament to the environment she was born into. While she grew up in a period where gender roles were rigid, especially for women, Coss came of age during a pivotal time for not only her as a woman, but also in American History. Diving into the arts during the birth of several new art movements, Coss spent her undergraduate years at Eastern Michigan University before heading east to Syracuse University for her graduate work to acquire her Masters of Fine Arts. It was during these years of higher education that Coss began expressing topics through art which had politicized her in her youth. With an interest in themes such as social justice, identity, and connectivity, Coss’s post graduate work exemplifies both passion and respect for both subject and art. Now residing in Seattle, WA, Coss continues to remain involved in the community as a socially engaged artist, or one whose art practice is produced “through collaboration, participation, dialogue, provocation, and immersive experiences” (Froggett). Furthermore, socially engaged artists “focus on process and seek to embed themselves within the communities among whom they work. This puts them in the position to respond to specific needs and agendas of communities and hence to widen audience participation” (Froggett). As an adjunct professor at Antioch University, she encourages the next generation to bring forth their talents and passions while continuing to produce and exhibit works of her own.
One of several children, Coss grew up just outside the Motor City. Her father, “a passionate politician” (Coss), combined with her geographical location provided additional means for which she was readily exposed to social, economic, and artistic change. The sixties may be coined as “the age of youth” (Goodwin), as World War II baby boomers were now becoming teenagers and adults. Therefore, this was a generation that demanded change. As the shift from the conservative fifties eventually resulted in radical ways of thinking, historic changes occurred within the framework of American life. According to American Cultural History: “1960-1969”, the young generation wanted an identity and culture of their own, unable to settle being replicas of the generation ahead of them. These revolutionary changes, some still evolving today, have affected education, lifestyles, and laws. In 1963, the Presidential Commission of the Status of Women (set up initially by President John F. Kennedy in 1961) disclosed alarming facts regarding women’s place in American society. In 1966, the renowned Gloria Steinem and Pauli Murray became members of the National Organization for Women (“NOW”) alongside the organization’s founder, Betty Friedan, and several other women that were involved in the Presidential Commission of the Status of Women. Though NOW was the first feminist organization in approximately half a century, it was not the only force in the women’s liberation movement. Through the efforts of all those involved in the women’s liberation, change was happening. Oral contraceptives were becoming vastly available, and laws regarding abortion were being examined (Goodwin). Coss respects this moment in history, both as a female and as an artist, as she can recall witnessing firsthand the repercussions of being a female in a patriarchal society. Coss bore witness to friends being forced to jump on trampolines by their parents in attempt to miscarry, as abortion was not yet legal, and their families did not have the means to travel to another state or country to handle it (Coss). Though not yet of age, she credits this as one element/subjection of an era she grew up in that politicized her. Still just a little too young to personally participate in the peace marches of ’68 and ’69, Coss recalls the involvement of her older sister and others around her as a catalyst for her own political expression.
With an emphasis in sculpture, Coss is a mixed media artist whose work often is comprised of installations that embody subject matter referencing a type of environment, be it social or natural, and the roles people play within it. With a respect for materials and method, Coss encourages the materials and process to represent the entire subject of the work.
In the 1970’s, a connection was consciously defined between the agenda of social politics and art (Broude & Garrard 21). Returning to the disposition of her father, combined with her developing passion of expression through art, Coss runs parallel with this interaction. During this newly revived wave of feminism, women worked towards overpowering the objectification and oppression of women. Because the female identity was unclear, feminists of this era worked to redefine it (Broude & Garrard 22). This identity had to be rebuilt due to the damage of the previously established role-play and status tied to women within society. Artists could use their work as an efficient way to display their messages to society. In The Power of Feminist Art, a quote is taken from Lucy Lippard, writer and companion to the feminist movement, claiming the notion that “art can be aesthetically and socially effective at the same time” (Broude & Garrard 23). Coss uses her art not only as a visual feature, but also a means to tell stories. Through her exploration of feminist art, Coss’s subject matter is more of an umbrella; covering a vast population of diverse culture or community. For Coss, and most feminist artists, art is not merely a visual field, but rather a way to give a public voice.
With regards to the physical relationship society has with nature, Coss looks deeper into the human hand and its impact on nature. As an engaged artist, she has taken her work outside the gallery setting by intertwining her art into the natural environment. Examples of this dichotomy include the shows/installations Three Graces, Bloodlines, and Vessels of Vestige. In addition, the San Juan Islands Sculpture Park and Webster’s Woods Art Park in Port Angeles claim the title of home for some of Coss’s other work within this category. All of these works in nature focus on re-working what we see causing us to recalculate our relationship with nature. Coss focuses on our interaction and how we take it for granted. She creates all of her works on a large scale so they “make a presence in nature” (Coss). She works to reevaluate elements of nature and while creating a new atmosphere. In addition, the San Juan Islands Sculpture Park and Webster’s Woods Art Park in Port Angeles claim the title of home for some of Coss’s other work within this category.
Bloodlines is a testament to the artist’s ancestral history as well as her culture. It’s a celebration of the connection she has with her ancestors who have lived along the coastlines. Coss has always felt a connection to the coast, and when she was tracing her ancestry she found out that her lineage consistently was drawn back to the coasts. In this show she has incorporated poems as well as layered sounds. Through this show she has created a shell like structure that has sound, and a poem that Coss wrote for this show which was recorded in four voices (Coss). She made this installation in collaboration with June Sekiguchi and Pam Hom. Through this body of work she has expanded the idea and created four more shows Songline, Descendant, Bloodlines, and The Blood That Runs Through Us. In the show Songline Coss “marks the route that was followed by the creator beings” (Coss). Coss inscribed over 400 of her ancestors into a human ribcage bone.
The Struggle is an installation consisting of three figures comprised of metal cast torsos and barbed wire skirts. These barbed wire skirts are headless figures that stand in a triangle with their backs together. The addition of a white rope is used to separate them from the rest of the world. The figures are roughly six feet tall and are larger than life to make the appealing section of the woman unattainable. It also includes copper casted women’s torsos and other pieces. This installation focuses on issues of race and gender struggles in the twenty-first century. This installation was the stepping stone for Coss’s show at METHOD. She tested the barbed wire skirts as well as the casted torsos and used them as studies for feedback into a complete show that will now be shown in January at METHOD.
In an interview with Coss, she explained her biggest response in a project was her empowering adventure with Layers of Hijab. Coss reached out to East African Muslim teens to explore post 9/11 cultural difference. After 9/11, many students of an East African background began to get treated differently, especially the young women who wore the very visible hijabs. The young men at school blended in as African Americans, whereas the women who wore the Hijabs were clearly of a Muslim background. After working with a group of girls over a long period of time, Coss became inspired by having a conversation with these girls about their cultural differences while attending a common high school. She combined her social justice degree, teaching skills and studio art in aiming for a conversation to inspire their work and give them a voice through the making of their projects. The teens let their art speak out about their gender roles as young women while intertwined in their Muslim religion, their Somali heritage, and lives as American teens (Coss).
Coss realized she needed to give these girls a voice into the public and decided to turn their work into a show at the Columbia City Gallery. Combining the work of the five girls, she also incorporated her own life-size three dimensional drawing of the girls. These wire sculptures were brazed together to create figures of each of the young ladies. The simplified silhouette images reflect their Muslim background by using gold leafing to highlight areas where their skin would show, such as their face and hands. A yin-yang symbol modified to include a paisley design, created the shape of the base to represent the counteractive views of their worlds being separate, yet intertwined. Coss inspired a connection with her ability to reach out and her compassion for giving the young women a voice. She found a long term effect in this project that created a rippling effect on the community. In her blog, Coss reflects on her bond with the East African Muslim girls by stating, “It would be an understatement to say that I have learned as much as I have taught,” (Coss)
Having a close bond with an Adrian College professor, Pi Benio, Coss had the opportunity to do what she calls a study of one of her series at Adrian College. This is where she takes a work in progress and displays it in order to get feedback on her work. You Are is an ongoing project where Coss is creating 100 castings of babies. Each baby has a barcode across their forehead and an occupation. Coss brought 18 babies to display in Adrian’s Heritage Gallery which created a deep response for most of its viewers. You Are explores the balance of destiny in its purest nature as well as the human interaction involved. Coss is inspired by the conversations created through her work and seeks to evoke them throughout each series.
During an interview, Benio revealed that while both growing up in Dearborn, Michigan, she and Coss did not know each other until they created their close bond in college. While Benio was in her graduate program at Eastern Michigan University, Coss was in her undergraduate program, and this is where they began their lifelong friendship. Their interests in ceramics and sculpture, along with aesthetic art over functional art, brought them together in the art studio. During this time period in the mid to late 70’s, conceptualism, or anti-object art, was really big (Benio).
During her undergraduate years, Coss explored art in a non-traditional ways such as experimenting in the extremes. Benio shared one of the experiences she had in Coss’s eccentric art processes. While Benio joined Coss in the studio at Eastern late one night, Coss decided she wanted to create a defining video piece as a personal project. While cameras rolled, Coss was intrigued by covering her body in slip. Slip is a watered down mixture of clay with a mushy, mud-like consistency. As Benio described the process, “the idea was she was naked and I was pouring slip on her from above… we were to let it dry, and she would get up, walk away and it would crack off (Benio)”. The slip was layered on thick, and the muddy mess was freezing cold on Coss’s skin. The layers of slip took hours to dry. “I felt so bad because she was so cold but she was like ‘no, I don’t want to mess up my video,’” recalls Benio. The adventurous Coss takes her works to the extremes and used her undergraduate years to really start an impacting career. This aspiration continued throughout her graduate work as well.
Another example of Coss’s desire to take on more personal projects outside of her focus in school, Coss began implementing installations outdoors. During graduate school at Syracuse, Coss began her fascination with storytelling and the ways it connects us to others. She decided to write a secret for every year of her life, each sealed in its own individual envelope, and then put into a book (Coss). This soon developed into another personal project where she wrote down the twenty five secrets from her life on undergarments that she purchased from thrift stores. She then took the undergarments and hid them around the city of Syracuse for people to discover.
The secrets were not something she intended to associate with herself; this art was not made to amplify herself as an artist, and therefore she kept her identity anonymous. She wanted to share the most intimate stories, and by putting them on such intimate clothing materials she was able to represent the vulnerability of sharing (Coss). Coss recalls two separate incidents in which feedback was brought back to her. She had people come up and talk to her about the undergarments. One was simply talking about the undergarments she had seen, and the other actually asked Coss if the work had been hers. She thought it was great that her impromptu art would have such an impact on the public (Coss).
METHOD is a gallery space that Coss conceptualized and opened along with Paul D. McKee, June Sekiguchi, and Paula Stokes. The gallery space is located in Tashiro Kaplan All-Arts Building in historic Pioneer Square in Seattle Washington. METHOD exhibits “art that is experimental, forward-thinking, unconventional, and predominantly based in sculpture, installation, new media, or performance” (Clemans). It is not a commercial gallery or an on-site studio. It showcases art that is innovative and is something that the public does not see on a daily basis. The founders of METHOD celebrate the artists who push boundaries with media and create something new. It is a collaborative, curatorial process that focuses on artistic processes. The art that is shown in the gallery is directly representative of the owners art, and is a testament to the work and goals of the founders. The reasoning for the opening of this space was due to the founders need for a new exhibition space, the four artists were looking for a gallery where they could “present exceptional, exploratory, challenging art that might not be seen in more traditional galleries” (Clemans). This space helps open a new vast space for artist to broaden their creativity. In Clemans final words of her article, “METHOD is an act of creativity”.
METHOD is a collaboration of everything Coss stands for. Through her series of work we can trace her inspirations back to her childhood. The environment she grew up in molded her as person and is developed throughout each series. Her work makes an impact in both the galleries and the environments that houses it. While being married and raising kids Coss has still found time to take the art world by storm.
One of several children, Coss grew up just outside the Motor City. Her father, “a passionate politician” (Coss), combined with her geographical location provided additional means for which she was readily exposed to social, economic, and artistic change. The sixties may be coined as “the age of youth” (Goodwin), as World War II baby boomers were now becoming teenagers and adults. Therefore, this was a generation that demanded change. As the shift from the conservative fifties eventually resulted in radical ways of thinking, historic changes occurred within the framework of American life. According to American Cultural History: “1960-1969”, the young generation wanted an identity and culture of their own, unable to settle being replicas of the generation ahead of them. These revolutionary changes, some still evolving today, have affected education, lifestyles, and laws. In 1963, the Presidential Commission of the Status of Women (set up initially by President John F. Kennedy in 1961) disclosed alarming facts regarding women’s place in American society. In 1966, the renowned Gloria Steinem and Pauli Murray became members of the National Organization for Women (“NOW”) alongside the organization’s founder, Betty Friedan, and several other women that were involved in the Presidential Commission of the Status of Women. Though NOW was the first feminist organization in approximately half a century, it was not the only force in the women’s liberation movement. Through the efforts of all those involved in the women’s liberation, change was happening. Oral contraceptives were becoming vastly available, and laws regarding abortion were being examined (Goodwin). Coss respects this moment in history, both as a female and as an artist, as she can recall witnessing firsthand the repercussions of being a female in a patriarchal society. Coss bore witness to friends being forced to jump on trampolines by their parents in attempt to miscarry, as abortion was not yet legal, and their families did not have the means to travel to another state or country to handle it (Coss). Though not yet of age, she credits this as one element/subjection of an era she grew up in that politicized her. Still just a little too young to personally participate in the peace marches of ’68 and ’69, Coss recalls the involvement of her older sister and others around her as a catalyst for her own political expression.
With an emphasis in sculpture, Coss is a mixed media artist whose work often is comprised of installations that embody subject matter referencing a type of environment, be it social or natural, and the roles people play within it. With a respect for materials and method, Coss encourages the materials and process to represent the entire subject of the work.
In the 1970’s, a connection was consciously defined between the agenda of social politics and art (Broude & Garrard 21). Returning to the disposition of her father, combined with her developing passion of expression through art, Coss runs parallel with this interaction. During this newly revived wave of feminism, women worked towards overpowering the objectification and oppression of women. Because the female identity was unclear, feminists of this era worked to redefine it (Broude & Garrard 22). This identity had to be rebuilt due to the damage of the previously established role-play and status tied to women within society. Artists could use their work as an efficient way to display their messages to society. In The Power of Feminist Art, a quote is taken from Lucy Lippard, writer and companion to the feminist movement, claiming the notion that “art can be aesthetically and socially effective at the same time” (Broude & Garrard 23). Coss uses her art not only as a visual feature, but also a means to tell stories. Through her exploration of feminist art, Coss’s subject matter is more of an umbrella; covering a vast population of diverse culture or community. For Coss, and most feminist artists, art is not merely a visual field, but rather a way to give a public voice.
With regards to the physical relationship society has with nature, Coss looks deeper into the human hand and its impact on nature. As an engaged artist, she has taken her work outside the gallery setting by intertwining her art into the natural environment. Examples of this dichotomy include the shows/installations Three Graces, Bloodlines, and Vessels of Vestige. In addition, the San Juan Islands Sculpture Park and Webster’s Woods Art Park in Port Angeles claim the title of home for some of Coss’s other work within this category. All of these works in nature focus on re-working what we see causing us to recalculate our relationship with nature. Coss focuses on our interaction and how we take it for granted. She creates all of her works on a large scale so they “make a presence in nature” (Coss). She works to reevaluate elements of nature and while creating a new atmosphere. In addition, the San Juan Islands Sculpture Park and Webster’s Woods Art Park in Port Angeles claim the title of home for some of Coss’s other work within this category.
Bloodlines is a testament to the artist’s ancestral history as well as her culture. It’s a celebration of the connection she has with her ancestors who have lived along the coastlines. Coss has always felt a connection to the coast, and when she was tracing her ancestry she found out that her lineage consistently was drawn back to the coasts. In this show she has incorporated poems as well as layered sounds. Through this show she has created a shell like structure that has sound, and a poem that Coss wrote for this show which was recorded in four voices (Coss). She made this installation in collaboration with June Sekiguchi and Pam Hom. Through this body of work she has expanded the idea and created four more shows Songline, Descendant, Bloodlines, and The Blood That Runs Through Us. In the show Songline Coss “marks the route that was followed by the creator beings” (Coss). Coss inscribed over 400 of her ancestors into a human ribcage bone.
The Struggle is an installation consisting of three figures comprised of metal cast torsos and barbed wire skirts. These barbed wire skirts are headless figures that stand in a triangle with their backs together. The addition of a white rope is used to separate them from the rest of the world. The figures are roughly six feet tall and are larger than life to make the appealing section of the woman unattainable. It also includes copper casted women’s torsos and other pieces. This installation focuses on issues of race and gender struggles in the twenty-first century. This installation was the stepping stone for Coss’s show at METHOD. She tested the barbed wire skirts as well as the casted torsos and used them as studies for feedback into a complete show that will now be shown in January at METHOD.
In an interview with Coss, she explained her biggest response in a project was her empowering adventure with Layers of Hijab. Coss reached out to East African Muslim teens to explore post 9/11 cultural difference. After 9/11, many students of an East African background began to get treated differently, especially the young women who wore the very visible hijabs. The young men at school blended in as African Americans, whereas the women who wore the Hijabs were clearly of a Muslim background. After working with a group of girls over a long period of time, Coss became inspired by having a conversation with these girls about their cultural differences while attending a common high school. She combined her social justice degree, teaching skills and studio art in aiming for a conversation to inspire their work and give them a voice through the making of their projects. The teens let their art speak out about their gender roles as young women while intertwined in their Muslim religion, their Somali heritage, and lives as American teens (Coss).
Coss realized she needed to give these girls a voice into the public and decided to turn their work into a show at the Columbia City Gallery. Combining the work of the five girls, she also incorporated her own life-size three dimensional drawing of the girls. These wire sculptures were brazed together to create figures of each of the young ladies. The simplified silhouette images reflect their Muslim background by using gold leafing to highlight areas where their skin would show, such as their face and hands. A yin-yang symbol modified to include a paisley design, created the shape of the base to represent the counteractive views of their worlds being separate, yet intertwined. Coss inspired a connection with her ability to reach out and her compassion for giving the young women a voice. She found a long term effect in this project that created a rippling effect on the community. In her blog, Coss reflects on her bond with the East African Muslim girls by stating, “It would be an understatement to say that I have learned as much as I have taught,” (Coss)
Having a close bond with an Adrian College professor, Pi Benio, Coss had the opportunity to do what she calls a study of one of her series at Adrian College. This is where she takes a work in progress and displays it in order to get feedback on her work. You Are is an ongoing project where Coss is creating 100 castings of babies. Each baby has a barcode across their forehead and an occupation. Coss brought 18 babies to display in Adrian’s Heritage Gallery which created a deep response for most of its viewers. You Are explores the balance of destiny in its purest nature as well as the human interaction involved. Coss is inspired by the conversations created through her work and seeks to evoke them throughout each series.
During an interview, Benio revealed that while both growing up in Dearborn, Michigan, she and Coss did not know each other until they created their close bond in college. While Benio was in her graduate program at Eastern Michigan University, Coss was in her undergraduate program, and this is where they began their lifelong friendship. Their interests in ceramics and sculpture, along with aesthetic art over functional art, brought them together in the art studio. During this time period in the mid to late 70’s, conceptualism, or anti-object art, was really big (Benio).
During her undergraduate years, Coss explored art in a non-traditional ways such as experimenting in the extremes. Benio shared one of the experiences she had in Coss’s eccentric art processes. While Benio joined Coss in the studio at Eastern late one night, Coss decided she wanted to create a defining video piece as a personal project. While cameras rolled, Coss was intrigued by covering her body in slip. Slip is a watered down mixture of clay with a mushy, mud-like consistency. As Benio described the process, “the idea was she was naked and I was pouring slip on her from above… we were to let it dry, and she would get up, walk away and it would crack off (Benio)”. The slip was layered on thick, and the muddy mess was freezing cold on Coss’s skin. The layers of slip took hours to dry. “I felt so bad because she was so cold but she was like ‘no, I don’t want to mess up my video,’” recalls Benio. The adventurous Coss takes her works to the extremes and used her undergraduate years to really start an impacting career. This aspiration continued throughout her graduate work as well.
Another example of Coss’s desire to take on more personal projects outside of her focus in school, Coss began implementing installations outdoors. During graduate school at Syracuse, Coss began her fascination with storytelling and the ways it connects us to others. She decided to write a secret for every year of her life, each sealed in its own individual envelope, and then put into a book (Coss). This soon developed into another personal project where she wrote down the twenty five secrets from her life on undergarments that she purchased from thrift stores. She then took the undergarments and hid them around the city of Syracuse for people to discover.
The secrets were not something she intended to associate with herself; this art was not made to amplify herself as an artist, and therefore she kept her identity anonymous. She wanted to share the most intimate stories, and by putting them on such intimate clothing materials she was able to represent the vulnerability of sharing (Coss). Coss recalls two separate incidents in which feedback was brought back to her. She had people come up and talk to her about the undergarments. One was simply talking about the undergarments she had seen, and the other actually asked Coss if the work had been hers. She thought it was great that her impromptu art would have such an impact on the public (Coss).
METHOD is a gallery space that Coss conceptualized and opened along with Paul D. McKee, June Sekiguchi, and Paula Stokes. The gallery space is located in Tashiro Kaplan All-Arts Building in historic Pioneer Square in Seattle Washington. METHOD exhibits “art that is experimental, forward-thinking, unconventional, and predominantly based in sculpture, installation, new media, or performance” (Clemans). It is not a commercial gallery or an on-site studio. It showcases art that is innovative and is something that the public does not see on a daily basis. The founders of METHOD celebrate the artists who push boundaries with media and create something new. It is a collaborative, curatorial process that focuses on artistic processes. The art that is shown in the gallery is directly representative of the owners art, and is a testament to the work and goals of the founders. The reasoning for the opening of this space was due to the founders need for a new exhibition space, the four artists were looking for a gallery where they could “present exceptional, exploratory, challenging art that might not be seen in more traditional galleries” (Clemans). This space helps open a new vast space for artist to broaden their creativity. In Clemans final words of her article, “METHOD is an act of creativity”.
METHOD is a collaboration of everything Coss stands for. Through her series of work we can trace her inspirations back to her childhood. The environment she grew up in molded her as person and is developed throughout each series. Her work makes an impact in both the galleries and the environments that houses it. While being married and raising kids Coss has still found time to take the art world by storm.
