Above: Ashgrove Cottage 1998, 52.5" x 85",Oil on paper
Top Left: Detail from Minkowski's Garden 1997, 18" x 18", Oil on wood
Top Right: Self-Portrait 1998, Gouache on paper

Mary Vernon says the geometric pattern builds her paintings, and color completes them by transforming the assertion of a formal plan. "I am a landscape painter, and I work out, in my paintings, the identity of landscapes, plants, and certain spaces," says Vernon, who grew up in the Pecos valley in southern New Mexico and credits the surrounding desert landscape with teaching her what to look for. An associate professor of drawing and painting in Meadows School of the Arts, Vernon has taught at SMU since 1967. Her work has appeared in exhibitions in the United States and Europe as well as in books and on compact disc covers. Vernon received her M.A. degree from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. To see more of her work, visit her Web sites at www.smu.edu/~art/faculty/vernon/ and www.w3art.com/MaryVernon.html.