M.F. Cardamone
Record Thyme, 2018
Mixed media work on paper
26" x 21"
Edition 1/8

Artist Statement

This piece is part of my Document Series. My subjects are the plants of the world that I enjoy learning These quirky documents are influence by ancient Herbal manuscripts, historical Botanical art and illustration and herbarium specimens (known as natural history specimens) & traditional botanical illustration. I see myself as a botanical investigative recorded and the work as ethnobotanical works on paper that explore the medicinal, historical, ecological and the spiritual parts of plants.

Artist Bio

Born-and-raised Philadelphian Maryfran (MF) Cardamone is a painter and printmaker concerned with botany and interplay with popular culture. Echoing early scientific botanical drawings, Dada surrealism, and the pioneering Pop Art collages of Eduardo Paolozzi, Cardamone's works are inimitable and stunningly rendered.

Cardamone collects plant specimens and combines them with images and words that result in complex visual narratives that reveal the science, history, and beauty of her subjects. This work is part of a series that began with research and native plant collecting that Cardamone conducted shortly after she designed a native Pennsylvania wildlife habitat garden as a result of her studies at the Barnes Foundation Arboretum School. She also finds inspiration in medieval herbals and manuscripts, folklore, traditional Chinese medicine, and Pop Art. To Cardamone, the anatomy of a plant is part of a larger story that involves its historical, medicinal, ecological, spiritual, and mythological aspects.

www.mfcardamone.com

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