mary miss

background
Mary Miss was born in New York City in
1944. Though always a New Yorker at
heart, Miss spent much of her childhood on
the west coast where she then studied art
at The University of California at Santa
Barbara from 1962 through 1966. Mary
Miss claims that it was here when she first
realized that art could be about an idea,
not just aesthetics and form. Miss then went
on to earn her Masters of Fine Arts from The
Rhinehart School of Sculpture in 1968. She
then returned to her true home, New York
City, in pursuit of her artwork.

mary miss
early work
Miss’s early work in the sixties were small-
scale, lightweight, skeletal constructions.
From here, an interest formed and grew into
Miss’s focus on public sculpture. Miss allowed
her projects to rise in scale and evolve into
outdoor sculptures.This transition proved
vital in the development of Miss’s philosophy
toward sculpture, in that now “the pieces
were physically and visually integrated into
their sites, in opposition to the images of
sculpture as object or statue” (Miss 62).

Miss began to question the way in which

sculpture could influence or be influenced by
the experience of the human. Miss sought
to explore the answers to such questions—
“Can we provide some sort of physical or
psychological relief and create intimate
spaces that are approachable in such a
context? Can we introduce alternatives into
our culture-reintroduce human scale or time
for reflection?” (Miss 59).

mary miss
philosophy
Mary Miss began to develop a distinct
philosophy and approach to her art, which
she began to call “building structures” in
addition to public sculptures. Miss recognized
the importance and need for more function
or integration within the “public sculptures,”
in order to truly begin to address and satisfy
the “viewer” who would see and engage
with them, a thought that should be at the
forefront of every public sculpture.

“ Think about building structures that can be

integrated into this context—physically and
visually integrated, not just an afterthought. Alter
the context by introducing transition zones from
street to building (human scale); construct spaces
where slow motion is possible. Give people the
luxury of engagement, not confrontation.
Think of spaces/structures that would allow
people to be the connectors between the open
space…and dense areas…Their experience of
open space may change the character of the
dense space.”

These elements— “the importance of Greenwood Pond

the viewer, integration with the site, the
use of architectural sources”— are the
foundations upon which Miss creates her
work. Miss clearly states that her priorities
are breathing space, human scale, firsthand

mary miss
experience, and focusing on the strong visual
elements of the city.
photo/drawings
Concentrating on the experience of a place,
Miss’s work, or the aspect she intends of
her work, is difficult to capture through
traditional drawings or photographs. Miss
also claims that at times even “when you
are there looking at it, it is hard to define”
(Marpillero 73). Thus, Miss uses a method she
calls “photo/drawings” in order to explore
and find a means of representing a place, or
rather the experience of a place, which then
begins to describe something other than what
may be physically represented.

Untitled #19

mary miss
photo/drawings
Literally, a photo/drawing is a collection
of photographs of one site or structure
purposefully photographed, cut, and
reassembled/collaged back together again
to read as a whole, and conceptually a
“spatial interpretation of a specific physical
experience, prompted by a certain place”
(Marpillero 78). Though intentional, for Miss
the process of creating photo/drawings is as
simple as sitting down with a pair of scissors
and a pile of photographs and creating.

“The photo/drawings are a great release

because [Miss] can investigate things without
actually building them, looking for that
which so compelling to [her], the physicality
of a situation…To do something where [she]
can just come in [her] studio, shut the door,
get out the photographs and the scissors and
just start…” (Marpillero 74).

It seems that Miss uses photo/drawing in two
separate ways. The first being to portray her
personal experience of a place separate
from her own structures, while the other
method allows Miss to use photo/drawings
as representation and clarity of her own
projects.

mary miss
personal experience
The majority of photo/drawings Miss creates
fall into the first category of depicting
and layering information of a personal
experience. For example, in “Untitled #2
(Egyptian Well)” Miss cuts and reassembles
taken photographs to emphasize and
dramatize the downward movement of the
well by creating a repetition of connecting
lines of light. Miss describes the well in Egypt
as beautiful with the light and shadows, yet
a single photograph would not suffice to
explain the beauty of the scattered lines
of light she experienced. With a photo/
drawing, however, Miss is able to “get a
stronger feeling of what it was actually like,
with the light in particular giving you that
kind of rotation, that spiral.” In reality, the
light within the well actually spins up around
the well, so that same idea is applied to
the photo/drawing of taking a series of
photographs, layering and rotating them in
order to achieve the sensation of spinning Untitled #2
fragments up out of the “well,” only on
paper the repeating lines of light spin
opening the photograph.

mary miss
personal experience
In addition, Untitled #23 Chinese Garden
also depicts Miss’s personal experience
within a place. Miss states that while inside
the garden, it felt maze-like; yet looking
back at photographs all sense of complexity
was lost. As opposed to “Untitled #23
(Chinese Garden)” where Miss attempted to
recreate what she remembered she actually
saw, Chinese Garden purpose is to instill the
complexity of her experience while moving
through the space. Miss achieves this by
layering the photographs veering from the
physical organization of space in order to
achieve the sense of passages traveled to
reach the central, peaceful courtyard.

Untitled #23

mary miss
analyzing site/structure
Miss also uses photo/drawings in order to
serve as a tool to analyze her own work,
whether it is the site itself or the experience
of the structure. For example, La Brea Tar
Pits, a museum with excavation site, became
a physical mapping revealing to the visitor
to history of the site and it transformations.
Miss uses photo/drawings in order to
analyze the site and begin the process which
led to proposing an elevated walkway to
a rectangular excavation pit in which the
viewer the experience to reconsider the
place and time we occupy.

mary miss
analyzing site/structure
Miss also used photo/drawings in Long
Beach Aquarium, a proposal that boldly
placed experience at the forefront among
a highly developed area. Miss again uses
photo/drawings as an analysis tool, yet this
time in an effort to explore the intersection
of built environment and natural environment,
and the possibility of redefining their
meeting point.

mary miss
conclusion
Mary Miss’s attitude toward public structure
focusing around human engagement directly
influences Miss’s need for photo/drawings.
Photo/drawings for Miss are essential in
conveying the spatiotemporal experience
of places, whether existing or constructed
by herself. It can be said that Miss’s photo/
drawings are a collage of photographs
each depicting a separate reality in order to
form a “new experience” that could not be
conveyed in a single drawing or photograph.

Untitled (Waterworks)

mary miss
conclusion
Mentioned earlier, Miss’s priorities include
breathing space, human scale, firsthand
experience, and focusing on the strong visual
elements of surrounding, if these are the
basis of her built works, then it is the visual
and physical engagement of such qualities
that the photo/drawings aim to portray.

Untitled (Vermont Fire Tower)

mary miss
conclusion
“[Photo/drawings] are dynamic formations
deployed as conceptual constructs operating
against reason, through strategies of
manipulating photographic materials.
They announce and put forth a paradigm
of aesthetic experience that Miss’s built
structures test in action” (Marpillero 74).

Untitled (Houston Bleachers)

mary miss
 Miss, Mary. On a Redefinition of Public Sculpture. 21. Boston: The MIT Press, 1984. 54-69.

Marpillero Sandro, Jessica Rowe, and Mary Miss . Mary Miss Photo/Drawings. Des Moines: Des
Moines Art Center Edmundson Art Foundation, Inc, 1996. 73-78.

mary miss