Honesty is the best and most eye-pleasing policy for painter Mary Jo Tydlacka.
For her show Honest View, the Woodstock resident captures the feel of Howard County?s rural lands, Ellicot City?s streets and Columbia?s outdoor concerts with a unique folk art flair.
“Anyone who knows her work will recognize a Mary Jo Tydlacka immediately,” said James Adkins, fellow resident artist at the Howard County Center for the Arts. “She?s arrived at a clear style, very original, that?s become her voice.”
Tydlacka illustrates everyday life in and around Howard County, Adkins said. “She?s not looking for a subject that is mythological or grandiose. Rather, her paintings are of family and familiar places that everyone can connect with.”
Tydlacka likens her technical process to a conductor orchestrating sections, which, in her case, are shapes, color and composition.
“If it all works well together, then I?m satisfied, and the viewers can take it and see if it means anything to them,” she said. “I?m not trying to control the viewer. I?m trying make what looks to be right to me.”
While taking a painting course to renew her teaching license, Tydlacka realized she not only wanted, but needed, to paint. “It was like Zing! Zing! This is what I?m good at and love.”
Since Tydlacka?s discovery, her work has become a fixture in Howard County, shown in the Central Branch of the Howard County Library and Howard County Council Collection.
Her paintings also can be seen in the permanent collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library in D.C.
The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company included her painting “Much Ado About Nothing” in its 2007 outdoor season literature.
“Mary Jo is an artist?s artist,” Honest View Curator Bonita Glaser said. “She?s very upbeat, and it comes through in her work.”
She?s an artist recognized and respected for her genuinely sentimental yet unconventional approach, Glaser said.
IF YOU GO
» Honest View
American City Building
Town Center
10227 Wincopin Circle, Columbia
» Times
Through Aug. 31
Artist Reception 6 p.m. Friday
7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday
