Mary Pat Turner is a painter and art educator. Her studio is located at 30 Cutler Street in Warren, Rhode Island. She studies how humans access art through their nervous systems, focusing on neurodivergence and trauma.

I often work on paintings for years, and sometimes the “original” work seems to be entirely gone. However, that beginning can be read in each successive development. When the context of my life alters, the paintings become more specific and enriched. As I age, I more fully understand that all of my work is related to how my mind and body adjust to trauma.

My paintings are heavily influenced by the physicality and Sublime found in Abstract Expressionism, and I deeply relate to the storytelling found in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.

Abstraction feels natural to the way my brain organizes information. It can strip away the literal and expose a more complex, sometimes more chaotic, narration. Abstraction exists as a felt sense in my body and my mind is free to work as if piecing together a puzzle. With abstraction, I order fragmented experiences, allowing my body to act upon the surface body of the painting, deliberately crafting my feelings into something visible.