500 Years of Resistance through Women’s Eyes, Galeria Museo/Mission Cultural Center, S.F.
1991
A.M.D.G., Grace Cathedral, San Francisco (curated by Terrain Gallery)
1990
Pro Arts Annual Juried Exhibition, Oakland, CA (curator: Jacquelyn Bass)
1989
American Documentary Video: Subject to Change, Museum of Modern Art, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1984
Expo 2000, Wearable Art Exhibition, Marin Civic Center, San Rafael, CA
1983
The Invention of Hair Spray, Santa Rosa, CA
1982
One Painter, One Sculptor, Crown Zellerbach Gallery, S.F.
1981
The Exchange Show, San Francisco/West Berlin, Germany
The Western Edge, Northern California Women’s Caucus for the Arts Exhibition, S.F
1980
International Women’s Art Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Women’s Myth and Ritual, Salon Cerridwen, New York City
1979
Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Syntex Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
Shidoni Outdoor Sculpture Show, Tesuque, New Mexico
1978
Sculptural Variations, Center for the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA
The Great Goddess Re-Emerging, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
Soap Box Derby, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Santa Fe Art Festival, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1977
Opening Exhibition, Center for the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA
The Great Goddess, Skylight Studio, Berkeley, CA
On Color, The Exploratorium, San Francisco
Flags, Banners and Kites, Allied Arts, Seattle, WA
1976
San Francisco Art Festival, Civic Center, San Francisco
Floating Museum, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
1975
Soap Box Derby, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Awakening, Oakland Museum, CA
Introductions, San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Festival, Civic Center, San Francisco
1974
Installation, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
1973
Potrero Hill Artists’ Show, San Francisco
1972
Alternate Media Conference, Goddard College, Goddard, VT
Daze of Syracuse, Past, Present and Future, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
1971
Sundance Ceremony, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1970
Vision and Television, Billy Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA
1969
Subject to Change, pilot program for C.B.S. Television, Videofreex, New York
RESIDENCIES:
2008 New Pacific Studio, Masterton, New Zealand
2005 Moulin à Nef, Auvillar, France
2000 Gentoshiya, Shimabara, Japan
1999 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, VA
1997 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, VA
COLLECTIONS:
Oakland Museum of California
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts
My current work begins with photographs abstracted from nature. Sometimes I further develop these compositions through applying layers of acrylic wash, drawing, transfer and collage. Recently, while continuing to use photographic imagery, I have returned to 3-dimensional art, developed kinetic, sculptural works that are suspended and turn in space. The resulting artworks serve as a means to discover the interconnectedness of things: new associations emerge across the changing space of the images.
I studied sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design and then participated in the early video movement in New York City. Since that time, my artwork has been featured in over twenty solo exhibitions and a hundred group shows. It is represented in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Oakland Museum of California.
"Three Clouds" (2016), pigmented inkjet print, steel, and monofilament, 27 x 42 x 16 in. (suspended)
"Windbreak" (2015), iridescent paint and markers on Dura-Lar, linen and steel, 16 x 52 x 16 in. (suspended)
"Bridge" (2015), colored pencil and digital inkjet print on milky acetate, linen, brass, 20 x 20 x 20 in. (suspended)
"Telltail" (2014), acrylic, colored pencil and digital inkjet print, 40 x 53 in.
"Chandeliers" (2012), digital inkjet print, collage and acrylic, 40 1/2 x 50 1/2 x 1 5/8 in.
"Zen Pool" (2009), pigmented inkjet print on aluminum, 18 1/4 x 24 1/4 x 7/8 in.
"Lens" (2007), acrylic, graphite, colored pencil on wooden panel, 30 x 30 x 2 in.
"Central Park Trees" (2006), acrylic, vinyl collage and pigmented ink jet print on panel, 48 X 44 X 2 in. Photo: Tony Molatore
Additional Content
Mary Curtis Ratcliff gives a tour of her exhibition "Circumference" at Mercury Twenty Gallery in Oakland, California. Recorded at the reception on March 10, 2018.