Mary A. Armstrong (1948 - 2020), In Memoriam

The Art, Art History and Film Department mourns the loss of beloved painting professor, Mary A. Armstrong, who from 1989 to 2018 educated and inspired Boston College students. Mary had the gift of teaching. Her vibrant vision guided her students in achieving their creative potential. Her students’ luminous and evocative landscapes hanging in the hallway brightened our department and lives.

An ardent and accomplished painter, Mary Armstrong focused on landscapes and seascapes, finding inspiration in such diverse environments as coastal Maine, the Californian desert, and aquatic Venice. Like the Venetian painters she admired, Mary’s primary means were light, color, and brushstroke. Combining paint with wax, she harnessed these forms to probe deeply into seeing and to represent real and imagined forces of nature. Mary received her BFA at Boston University, her M.Ed. at Lesley College, and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Mary was recognized with regular solo exhibitions in Boston and New York as well as group shows throughout the United States, and her work is represented in many private collections. Last year, the department and the McMullen Museum of Art celebrated her recent work in a solo exhibition at the McMullen Museum.

Along with her brilliance in teaching and painting, Mary Armstrong will be remembered for her beautiful character. Her kindness, grace, ease, warmth, sincerity, and curiosity endeared her to us, her colleagues, friends and students. Knowing her was a privilege. Though impossible to capture all that Mary meant to us, this collection of quotations is a start:

Mary was a “breath of fresh air” and “she loved her students!” To her students, she was “supportive” and “inspiring.” “Few faculty appeared…[for an Honors student submitting her paintings as a thesis] but Mary wished to offer her encouragement to the student.” (John, Susan and John Michalczyk)

“Before I met her formally, I remember seeing Mary in the hallway of the fourth floor of Devlin and thinking she was one of the coolest women I have ever seen. She would often be hanging her students’ intimate paintings of the forest scenes and other landscapes…. I realized that she must be an excellent teacher to get that quality of work from her students.” (Aurelia Campbell)

“…her passion and generosity helped her students master technical issues and awakened them to new ways of seeing. I can’t begin to count the number of students who told me that she changed their lives, opening their eyes to the majesty of nature and the power of art and helping them to find their own inner strength. Her magnificent paintings were so luminous and inspiring. I looked forward to every chance to see them either at BC or in noted galleries. A rare visit to her studio was to enter an enchanted world.” (Jeffery Howe)

“Apples. I remember Mary's love for apples that she collected during our retreat (besides love for her students)…” (Hartmut Austen)

“I made several wonderful visits to her luminous studio overlooking the trees and hillside of Newton where we had some amazing conversations about art, Venice, and Italy in general. I was only at the start of a special friendship with this beautiful, talented lady.  I admired her paintings of the sea and the desert and how they captured the beauty and complexity of both.” (Diana Larsen)

“As private a person as she was, she was a gabber. We talked about everything but mostly art, studio process, students, education. She was so thoughtful, so intelligent and empathetic.” (Debra Weisberg)

“Mary had an abundance of grace, and fortunately she was able to bestow a bit of that on all of us who knew her. Thus, she will live on in our hearts, memories, and, I hope, our actions.” (Andrea Frank)

“Mary was always so kind and a pleasure to work with every day.” (Linda Dietrich)

“Mary was one of the bright lights in our department; upbeat, always smiling that great big smile of hers. Inevitably, to be around her was to have one's spirits lifted. She was sincere, supportive in a way that seemed effortless, with an almost casually modest manner that, upon first meeting her might belie what a fiercely amazing talent she was…We are left with her legacy: the incredible work she made, and the mark she left on the hundreds she taught.” (Karl Baden)

“Mary and I often talked about Venice. Mary knew the city and its art inside and out, and her joy for this vibrant visual environment was infectious. When I read her notebooks on display at the McMullen Museum, I came across this insertion into her detailed description of viewing art on the island of Torcello: e dopo andiamo a prendere un gelato (and after let’s go to have a gelato). To me, this seamless transition from earnest pursuit to carefree pleasure captures what was so endearing about Mary.” (Stephanie Leone)

“Mary and her husband Stoney, both amazing painters and educators and gorgeously good and inspiring human beings, helped set me on my artist path more than anyone I could say…. Once, when I was applying for graduate school, before moving to NYC, Mary visited my studio, looked at the work and turned to me with an urgency and said, ‘tell them that painting is like breathing to you.’ This was true, but it was more true of Mary than anyone I've ever known.” (Susan Breen)

“Mary introduced me to Mary Oliver. Together, with the others in our “Alienation Seminar," we had read Yeats, Blake, Stevens, Elliot as well as Montaigne, Pascal, and on and on. But the great Mary Oliver, I did not know, the poet who shows us “the wild silky part of ourselves.” I owe Mary a huge debt of gratitude for that introduction. Mary and I spent many mornings, with the others, asking…“What is the gift that I should bring to the world?” And Mary gave, most recently in the gorgeous seascapes of her beloved ocean—where one can feel the power, see the light, and immerse oneself in the energy.” (Pamela Berger)

"Mary and I shared an office for many years, if not decades. She brightened my days and always made me feel welcomed to 'the best office ever.' She was an excellent teacher, as was evident in her students' work and their love of her. I remain impressed by her own painting as well, which I feel deserves greater recognition than it had in her lifetime.  I hope, over time, this will happen." (Mary Sherman)

I had wonderful conversations with Mary over many years. The topics ranged from art to music to ideas and on. She was always intensely focused on the subject discussed. The work of her students was so fine and showed the benefits of the breadth she brought to her teaching. An artist, Mary was very generous in her interest in other artists' work. I have always loved Mary's paintings. They are personal, poetic and deeply felt. (Aileen Callahan)