21 Under 31 | Mary Sauer: 2012 Young & Emerging artist

New York figurative painter

Mary Sauer, Megan, oil, 40 x 30.

Art Education: Bachelor of fine arts in illustration from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. I was also very fortunate to apprentice with master painter William Whitaker for two years. After that I continued my education at the Art Students League of New York and at the Grand Central Academy of Art.
Style: Representational figure painting with a direct, painterly approach.
Creative Spark: Walking through the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other great museums and galleries in Manhattan. This gives me great insight into how the old masters rendered light and form as well as what other contemporary representational artists are doing today.
Second-Choice Career: To own a bakery. I love decorating cakes and cupcakes, baking bread, and, most of all, making all different kinds of cookies. I also am in love with playing the organ. Rocking out on the huge pipe organ at Westminster Abbey for the Queen would be pretty awesome.
One Thing Most People Don’t Know About You: I’m actually legally blind. Luckily they have perfected contacts and glasses to where they don’t need to be an inch thick anymore—the glasses I had as a kid were huge.
Biggest Fear: Water bugs—those giant, mutant cockroach things.
Pet Peeve: All of the stuff that you have to do as a painter that isn’t painting. That’s why I married my husband. He helps me with everything from building frames, stretching canvases, and shipping paintings to taking reference photos and making awesome custom wooden palettes. He’s basically my personal assistant, even though he has his own full-time job.
Future Goals: I would love to have a solo show in the not-too-distant future.
Price Range: $1,200 to $5,000.