Mary Kocol
Mary Kocol was born in Hartford, Connecticut and studied at both the University of Connecticut and the Rhode Island School of Design, where she earned a master's degree in photography.
Kocol’s Welcomed Enigma series, exhibited in 2020, is a contemplative examination of the garden as a timeless place to dwell, refresh, and reflect upon the profound beauty of the plants that surround us. These scan-o-grams were not made with a traditional camera. The process recalls darkroom days, where one made photograms by placing an object on light sensitive paper and shone light on it to reveal shadows. Here, the plant material was arranged on the glass scanner bed. The scanner ’s beam provided even illumination, capturing the objects as they lay on the glass.
Kocol’s Ice Gardens series, exhibited in 2013, features photographs of shimmering blossoms frozen in ice. The blossoms, collected from the gardens of Kocol’s friends, family, and her own, were then frozen in ice and photographed in sunlight to create permanent evidence of two temporary states. There is also an element of chance and surprise in the creation of these prints. Kocol later photographed the thaw of these frozen botanicals as well.
Kocol's photography has received acclaim for its transformation of ordinary domestic and street scenes, located often in her resident Somerville, Massachusetts, into dramatic, richly colored compositions that convey an uncanny sense of both day and night. By photographing at dusk, with prolonged exposures, Kocol creates a melding of daytime and evening that transforms the mundane into the fantastic.
In addition to her medium format (6x9) work, Kocol shoots with a plastic lens toy camera, producing images in which she uses the camera's imperfections and its vagaries of focus.
Examples of her photography are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1993, Kocol was awarded a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.
Tulips with Storm Sky, 2020, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Dawn Window Portal, Ireland, 2023, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire The Full Flower Moon Delivers, May 2020, 2020, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Morning Moon Through Frost Window, Somerville, 2018, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Lilac Moon, 2018, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Lake Garden Gate, 2023, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Wild Garden Window Portal with Moon, Ireland, 2023, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire House Portal, Ireland, 2023, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Twilight Village Near Ballinskelligs, Ireland, 2023, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Redbuds in Bloom, Spring 2013, 2013, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Two Yellow Peonies, 2017, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Five Deep Red Roses, 2016, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Autumnal Bouquet, 2018, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Nasturtiums from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2018, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Bouquet of Orange Roses, 2017, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire The Photographer's Garden on July 1, 2018, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire The Photographer's Garden on July 22, 2017, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Two Dahlias Opening, 2018, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Garden Roses, 2016, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Eggplant with Blossoms, 2016, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Roses, Table, Sky (from the Ghost Garden Series), 2014, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Sunset Clouds, June 3, 2013, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Rose Plate Variety (from the Ghost Garden Series), 2013, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Peacock Hiding, Parc-De-Bagatelle, Paris, 2016, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire French Vase with Roses and Peonies, 2016, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Yellow Garden Ice Plate Melting in the Lake (from the Ghost Garden Series), 2014, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Circle of Roses (from the Ghost Garden Series), 2013, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Lilacs Before the Storm, Arnold Arboretum, 2015, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Girl and Peacock, Parc de Bagatelle, Paris, 2016, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x23"> Inquire Tulips, Monet's Garden, Giverny, 2016, archival inkjet print (edition of 12), 23x23"> Inquire Irises and Azaleas, Mom’s Garden, 2015, archival inkjet photograph (edition of 12),34.5x23"> Inquire The Garden On June 3 2011 , 2011, archival inkjet photograph (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Morning Glory with Bubble, 2011, archival inkjet photograph (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Watermelon Baby and Blossom, 2011, archival inkjet photograph (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Roses Past, 2012, archival inkjet photograph (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire Queen Anne's Lace Emerging, 22011, archival inkjet photograph (edition of 12), 34.5x23"> Inquire Rose of Sharon, 2011, archival inkjet photograph (edition of 12), 23x34.5"> Inquire House at Night, Isle of Wight, > Inquire
Mary Kocol
Mary Kocol was born in Hartford, Connecticut and studied at both the University of Connecticut and the Rhode Island School of Design, where she earned a master's degree in photography.
Kocol’s Welcomed Enigma series, exhibited in 2020, is a contemplative examination of the garden as a timeless place to dwell, refresh, and reflect upon the profound beauty of the plants that surround us. These scan-o-grams were not made with a traditional camera. The process recalls darkroom days, where one made photograms by placing an object on light sensitive paper and shone light on it to reveal shadows. Here, the plant material was arranged on the glass scanner bed. The scanner ’s beam provided even illumination, capturing the objects as they lay on the glass.
Kocol’s Ice Gardens series, exhibited in 2013, features photographs of shimmering blossoms frozen in ice. The blossoms, collected from the gardens of Kocol’s friends, family, and her own, were then frozen in ice and photographed in sunlight to create permanent evidence of two temporary states. There is also an element of chance and surprise in the creation of these prints. Kocol later photographed the thaw of these frozen botanicals as well.
Kocol's photography has received acclaim for its transformation of ordinary domestic and street scenes, located often in her resident Somerville, Massachusetts, into dramatic, richly colored compositions that convey an uncanny sense of both day and night. By photographing at dusk, with prolonged exposures, Kocol creates a melding of daytime and evening that transforms the mundane into the fantastic.
In addition to her medium format (6x9) work, Kocol shoots with a plastic lens toy camera, producing images in which she uses the camera's imperfections and its vagaries of focus.
Examples of her photography are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1993, Kocol was awarded a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.