Please introduce yourself. What inspired you to become an artist? How has your upbringing influenced your artwork?

My name is Mary but I prefer to go by my last name Naylor. However, I often forget to introduce myself with this and the hesitation when telling someone your name can seem a little suspicious. So, for now I still go by both. I am an artist from Salford, Greater Manchester and I recently followed my mum and sister to the North East coast. I am an associate member of my previous studio group Ebor Studio, Littleborough, which allows me to continue to work, play and grow between Scarborough and Greater Manchester.

My portfolio includes portraits, T-shirt designs, digitally illustrated prints, collages, textile pieces, animations and jewellery made from discarded waste. These are all available on my online store and some bits can also be found in Mandy Apple Collective, The Stephen Joseph Theatre Shop, Dexters Surf Shop, The Falsgrave Community Centre (Scarborough) and Oats & Honey (Manchester).

It was my parents who inspired me to become an artist. They were both great at drawing and painting but were made to follow a more sensible path by their parents, because of that, they enthusiastically encouraged my sister and me to create and surrounded us with art. I have murky, but particularly strong memories of specific paintings in vague buildings. These must have been the exhibitions we were taken to. I also vividly remember a small oil painting of Snow White my mum had made. She showed it to me when I was very young and in my bottom bunk before bed, I remember the lamp that lit up the creases and folds in Snow White’s dress. It was so 3D and alive, I couldn’t believe she had made it. I also spent a lot of time standing on my stairs, admiring a drawing of a huge and angry constipated-looking man, my dad had drawn. Back then I was amazed by it. He left me his portfolio when he died and I now look at it in a very different way dissecting how it was done. What seemed impossible and magical then seems possible to me now. For these reasons, I try to remember the importance of showing art to the kids around me. You have no clue what might stick and influence them. I suppose that doesn’t just apply to art, but the power of words and actions we share around them too.

Why was your experience in Colombia a pivotal point in your career as an artist? How has this experience informed your artwork?

The most obvious answer to this is that I returned from the trip in the pandemic, which meant I had no job and had to take a leap of faith with my art. I registered as a freelancer, joined a studio and started selling prints and painting portraits. I certainly would have lacked the courage to do this, had I not been forced to.

The more nuanced answer is that my friend returned home two months into our trip when she found out her dad had cancer. I was left feeling a little lost in Bogotá and unsure of my next move. A chance/choice meeting meant I was welcomed onto a mural project in Santa Fé by two local artists Sebastion Villalba and Chucho Candela. My Spanish was basic, but they were warm, helpful, patient and come to think about it very trusting. They gave me a large section of the piece.

Up until this point, I had mainly created artwork for myself, alone, and occasionally I would show or sell it. Art has always been a comforting and consistent friend to me. It served as therapy for me in darker times.

As I stood five metres up on scaffolding, the strong sun licking my face, quickly drying my paintbrush and paint, with two strangers now friends on each side, in bloody December! A whole new side of art was revealed to me. I felt so incredibly alive at this moment. Art could bring freedom, acceptance, connection, and adventure. It connects people on so many levels. The artists, the passers-by, the subjects of the stories painted and the people of the future with the people from the past.

When I returned home I wanted to share more and encourage people to get involved in creating so they could fast-track to this useful joy I had found. I began to include community murals in my exhibitions. Due to the U.K. weather, most have taken place inside. Despite this, they have been successful, people start a little shy and then before you know it it is like a game of twister and there are ten strangers all winding around each other filling a wall with colour. It’s beautiful.

You paint/draw a variety of subjects. Focusing on your portraits, what do you find interesting about the human face? What compels you to paint someone?

I find the human face super interesting. It has consistent and familiar foundations, yet an infinite number of variations. This subject helped me learn to draw, I would start with a reference photo and once it began to go a bit way-wood, I would throw away the reference but continue the drawing. This meant I could practice my observational skills and fill in the gaps with imagination without being too obsessed with completing something perfect. It left space to grow a little each time and kept me motivated. I also love painting eyes, they bring a painting to life.

Describe your creative process from start to finish of your most recent painting. What initially inspired the composition?

I don’t plan my paintings in a traditional sense. I sketch or paint straight onto the canvas with charcoal or pencil then get one nice block of colour down. Then I choose which colour will sit nicely with that one, then repeat. I refer to art books or previous work for ideas on composition and patchwork in elements. Because of this process, I often paint parts back out. Finally, I leave the finished painting for a day or two and return maybe with a finishing touch. Usually, someone needs a hat. If I am not 100% sure, I will photograph the painting on my iPad and add the idea on Procreate to see if it works. This leaves room for experimenting with colour without F-ing it up at the last moment. Usually, my work is based on death, my everyday life and surroundings or emotions with a touch of humour. But I often paint for the sake of painting. It is how I switch off. So themes can be very random.

What would you like to communicate through your artwork?

Through my workshops and activities I want to inspire confidence, joy and community. While hopefully highlighting the inclusivity and benefits of art. Through my personal pieces, I have no clue. I can’t control that. People’s perspectives are extraordinarily broad and often different. Art is most definitely subjective. A boat on the sea for one person may illustrate peace, yet for another, it could be a reminder of pain and death.

You create murals in public spaces. Why do you think it is important for art to be displayed in this way? How does your process for creating a mural differ to when you’re producing a small scale work in the studio?

Not all art galleries are physically accessible or affordable for everyone. Bringing art to the streets makes it inclusive and also engages people who may not usually tamper with the arts. Murals help create more inviting environments in otherwise neglected and rundown areas. In Colombia and other parts of South America they host graffiti tours in which they describe the topics painted and in turn explain the history of an area. This also brings visitors in to support the local businesses. It is also a great way to give communities autonomy and promote pride in their surrounding area. The mural we did in Santa Fé was called Paz A La Calle - Peace for the Street, was made up of four portraits of transwomen and women who live and work in Santa Fé. Like many places in the world, the LGBTQI community there is regularly targeted with violence and murder. This project was created for them to proudly take up space and be seen. They ran a series of creative workshops alongside the mural for this particular community.

Working on a larger scale demands more energy and planning and it definitely has more obstacles; Walls can be porous, bricks can be flakey, there is the added pressure of people watching, and things can look a bit bad before they look good. Something I always try to remind myself is to stop and step back. It is easy to get lost in detail rather than looking at the bigger picture. I try to use this process in life too. We often beat ourselves up daily on what tasks we haven't managed to get done. But how often do we stop and list the previous year's achievements?

Out of all your work, which piece did you enjoy working on the most, and why?

It is a toss-up between the one above ‘Paz a La Calle’ because it opened my eyes in so many ways, and then the first community mural I hosted in Gallery Frank, Littleborough, in 2022. I mapped out the template on the wall, that time it was a paint-by-numbers and left it to the visitors to get messy. I enjoy stepping back and quietly watching people's confidence grow. It’s a different feeling of accomplishment and the finished outcome is always a huge surprise.

If you could spend a day with an artist; dead or alive, who would it be, and why?

I am going to say - my dad, just because I would love to see him again. I never got to say goodbye.

What has been your greatest achievement so far as an artist? What are your future aspirations?

My biggest achievement to date is supporting myself with my work because it has created so much space and time to try new things, travel and continue to learn. I used to live around work and now I work around living. It is incredible, I hope to continue like this for as long as possible. But I am extremely grateful for the ride I have had so far if it ends.

Looking towards the future, I would like to improve my painting skills, complete a cherry picker licence and apply for larger mural projects so I can continue to travel the world and meet people whilst making art. This is my dream.

Why do you think art is important in society?

Art is wrapped around and rooted in everything you see and touch. Society would be unimaginable without it.

Mary Naylor

ARTIST INTERVIEW: MARY NAYLOR