Mary's Art Page

Heather Evans Smith (November 2009)

This Month's Artist:

November's artist is Heather Evans Smith. "Domesticated" is her first show at Mary's (though she's been showing for over 10 years), and is a collection of photographs that tell stories from Heather's perspective. She likes to show people a different side of their ordinary lives, by incorporating a sense of nostalgia and melodrama that transcends the everyday; often with a powerful sense of solitude that negates the chaos of the outside world. With “Domesticated”, Evans Smith humorously explores gender roles and the unobtainable pressures put upon women in today’s society and in generations past. 

Click to check out past Mary's Of Course artists at our Art-chive!

A Call For Help :

After nine years of frantic involvement in the running of Mary's Of Course, we are finally taking a little time to step back and organize our memories of past events at MOC. In this process we have been compiling as comprehensive a list of all our past artists, as we possibly can. It has become eveident that there are gaps we are having trouble filling, so we're asking for your help. If you have Art opening posters, or pictures taken inside the cafe that incidentally show what art was hanging on the walls; we are interested. Our main focus is on determining who the artists were for each month. As of this writing (June 13, 2009) we need to know any information you might have about:

July-October 2000

March-December 2005

Januray, March & April 2006

Thanks for any help you may be sending our way -samb & mary

Future Artists :

It's true that Mary's Art Shows stay booked far in advance, so we've decided to share our roster of future artists. These are the shows that are scheduled, but be aware that these can change for a multitude of reasons at any time. As of now we have...

December - John Blackburn

January (2010) - Adele Bezvidenhout

Go here for our first video of an art opening; Amanda Dunn's runway show(!!!):

About Our Art Shows...

Mary's Of Course Cafe is more than proud to support local art & artists; we consider it an integral part of what Mary's stands for. We feel that by encouraging artists to hang paintings, sketches, collages, photos and minor sculptures; we're fostering yet another important connection between our customers and the community we live in.

The art on the walls of Mary's Cafe serves a number of purposes. The most obvious benefit is in decorating our dining room, as anyone who's visited between shows will attest; it's mighty bare without it. Another advantage is the exposure the artists get to our clientele, who it turns out are solid supporters of the arts! For many artists with burgeoning careers Mary's was their first show, and the community's initial introduction to their art. Often our shows over the last 7 years, have completely sold out; sometimes on opening night. In fact, Mary has been told by a number of established artists in the area, that she sells more art for them than any other gallery in town! We are encouraged if this is true and believe it is yet another piece of our mission to not just feed you, but to encourage the interconnected nature of Winston-Salem. We are so happy that our commitment to local artists has resulted in a strengthening of our community, and it's something we're admittedly proud of.

Before we take all the credit, we should point out that visionaries George Jacobs and William Shearburn started the revitalization of our downtown by establishing Urban Artware on Trade Street in 1986. We personally are indebted to Cynthia Giles who's commitment to art before us with Penny Universitie, sent us off in the right direction by inheriting a handful of her artists when she closed her doors in 1999.

If you're keen to attend one of our art openings at Mary's, you'll find they're usually on the first Friday or Saturday of each month, though sometimes circumstances conspire to make them happen off schedule. Just keep an eye on this site, or sign our mailing list for updates.

In any case, Mary's lovely (and don't forget scawey) daughter Tamis books the artists for our Cafe, but prospective artists should be aware; we have maintained a 1-2 year waiting list at times. Thanks for reading about the art at Mary's Of Course Cafe. Please come down and look for a gift or something to take home, and enjoy the rest of our website!