Mary Koski: Girl in Straw Hat with Pansies
SCHOLARSHIP AUCTION 2009
Artist: Mary Koski
Title: Girl in Straw Hat with Pansies
Medium: original pastel
Dimensions: 16-1/2” x 19-1/4”
Date: 1991
We are pleased to offer an endearing pastel portrait by our “living treasure” Mary Koski, who has been commissioned by numerous local families to create heirlooms by capturing their children in art. Girl in Straw Hat with Pansies is a quintessential Koski masterpiece that reflects the warmth and beauty of the artist’s style. Mary’s mastery of the pastel medium is shown in the range of velvety textures that enliven each facet of the portrait. A young girl with flowing, wheat-colored hair glances down from under her very generous straw hat. As in a reflecting pool, her azure eyes are mirrored in the soft aqua of her sundress. The youthful tilt of her face reveals both the downy softness of her cheeks and the size of her extraordinary hat. She must be proud of its golden circular weave and the protective brim that spans the width of the picture. Adorning the crown is a garland of purple and yellow pansies that come alive with Mary’s meticulous work in pastel. We can touch their velvet petals and enjoy the brilliant color combinations of deep purple, blue violet, and dazzling yellow tied together with a rosy silk ribbon. The deep chocolate background sets off the flaxen and pastel tones in this luxuriant portrait of a girl and her favorite hat.
Mary Koski is renowned for her portraits of many keiki of Hawai’i. In addition, Mary’s Children of Hawai’i calendars, which were published for over a decade by Island Heritage, have become collectors’ items. With the artistry of its velvet textures and jewel-toned pastels, Girl in Straw Hat with Pansies is certain to become a treasured family heirloom.
Born in San Diego, California, Mary Koski began her career as a professional artist at the age of seventeen. Talented in art, ballet and music, she majored in art at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at Mexico City College in Mexico City. While in Mexico City she met and married her husband who was there with the Finnish embassy. Later they moved to the United States where their three children were born and where Mary began to paint in earnest. During the years that followed, her career blossomed in California, Texas, Georgia and Pennsylvania. In 1970 she began an extended painting tour of Europe with commissions and exhibitions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Scandinavia.
Gift from Mrs. Shelly Reed