Updated May 31, 2022: Memorial Services for Mary Cady will be held Saturday, June 4 at 2:00pm at East Kishacoquillas Presbyterian Church 100 Walnut St., Reedsville, PA 17084.
Mary Cady Rubinstein, a member and former instructor at the Art Alliance, died December 13, 2021. She was 94. Mary was an award winning sculptor, printmaker, innovator and a fixture in the Central Pennsylvania art community for six decades.
Many art students benefited from the life drawing and sculpture classes Mary taught over a span of more than twenty years at our Art Center in Lemont. In May 2021 an exhibition of Mary’s work was held in our Art Center, providing an opportunity for former students and friends to visit with her and admire her sculptures, woodcuts, and litographs. Prominent in the exhibition were many of her “boards” which transformed woodcut boards into three-dimensional reliefs brought to life with rich, earthy yet striking colors (view images in the 2021 May/June issue of CentreArts [pages 13–14]).
We are grateful to Mary’s family for their request that in lieu of flowers, donations in Mary’s memory be made to the Art Alliance.*
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 29, 2022, 2:00 pm, at the East Kishacoquillas Presbyterian Church, 100 Walnut St., Reedsville, PA 17084.Update 1/17: Mary’s service for January has been canceled. A memorial service is being planned for in the spring. We will update when there is more information.
Her obituary at the Centre Daily Times.
*please call the office at (814) 234-2740 or email [email protected]
Below are some of Mary’s work from her recent show, Retrospective, at the Art Alliance Center in Lemont.
Oil Portrait of Mary Cady
Mary Cady Sculpture
Mary Cady teaching
Mary Cady Drawing Oppossum small
Mary Cady tree painting
Mary’s Bio
Artist Mary Cady received an MFA Degree from the University of Iowa and studied at the Art Students League in New York City under William Zorach. Her drawings, sculptures and woodcut prints have been exhibited throughout the region for 5 decades. She has won numerous awards for her work and has been featured in both corporate and private collections. Mary’s “boards” and wood sculptures were featured in a one person show at Juniata College in 2010/11.
Cady was born in Texas and started her artistic training there, but she has lived, worked and exhibited in Central Pennsylvania throughout most of her adult life. Her subject matter and her art materials have been greatly influenced by her home turf. Animals, fish, and birds that cross her path are studied and carved from walnut, cherry, sycamore and other local woods that she finds on her excursions. She speaks of the respect that she has for both her subjects and the wood from which they are carved. While Mary is widely known for her sculptures, her drawings and “boards” have gotten great attention from collectors and critics. The highly textured and painted narrative “boards” tell the stories of Mary’s Reedsville home, but don’t stop at the county line. Her comprehensive reaction to the events of September 11th 2001 have been praised by art lovers and historians. These “boards’ often combine subjects from her sketchbook with literary figures or mythological characters. Mary Cady’s work has been informed by her rich academic background, her curious nature and her extensive personal reading.
Mary has taught life drawing and sculpture at the Art Alliance over a span of many years. Her influence on the regional art scene is long and deep!