Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Mary Chroniuk draws and paints landscapes, portraits, and florals. She currently lives in Don Mills, Ontario.

She says she feels fortunate to have been tutored in her early stages be noted artists Hugh MacKenzie, Robert Hedrick, and Jim Gordeneer. She earned a BA at the University of Western Ontario in 1964, and took a spring semester of Art and Architecture in Vienna, at the University of Vienna.

"Although my concentration of study focused on tradition figure drawing, painting, and portraiture, my challenge is always to express myself honestly regardless of the subject. Therefore, when I have hiked through the Cheviot Hills or studied the face of an aging man, I wish to convey my response and invite the viewer to share this experience as well.

Entering a deep state of communion with the subject matter allows the brush to speak, an emotion to surface, and the subconscious to reveal itself unashamedly. Therefore, my goal is to capture this emotion or state of mind, and, through a figure, a face, a landscape, or a flower, tell a story with passion, no matter how ordinary."

Mary received an AOCAD (Hon.) from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2001.

Mary Chorniuk paints from a theatre actor dressed as a pirate, during VAB's 20th anniversary event in 2006 at Shoppers World.

Recent exhibitions

• 2008 — Visual Arts Mississauga Juried Art Show, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga
• 2005 — Artists' Choice, group exhibition at the Neilson Park Creative Centre, Toronto
• 2004 — The Four Seasons, solo exhibition in the upper link of the Toronto Botanical Garden; Juried exhibition of the Colour and Form Society at The Papermill Gallery, Toronto; VAB Annual Art Auction, Visual Arts Brampton at the Peel Heritage Complex, Brampton
• 2003 — Water Project, juried exhibition of the Ontario Society for Artists
• 2002 — Riverdale Art Walk, Toronto
• Regularly in group exhibitions at Artway Shoppers World

To Contact

She can be contacted directly by phoning (416) 444-1821, or by e-mailing menya@sympatico.ca.