A lifetime as a musician and teacher. Shorter stints as a bartender, composer, real estate agent and saleswoman. Cumberland resident and former Winman Middle School art teacher Mary Casale has worn many, many hats over the course of her lifetime.
The works of Casale are on display Jan. 3 through Feb. 6, 2019 at the BankRI Pitman Street Gallery at 137 Pitman Street in Providence. Hours are Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Lately, Casale has taken on a new challenge: fine art painter.
Inspired by a deep love of visual art, Casale had often wondered what it would be like to be a painter. She would visit museums and stand in awe in front of paintings by Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. She saw the layers, the connections and the sheer energy in the work and Casale imagined that someday she might try to make paintings that contained such an exuberant spirit.
When she retired two years ago, Casale finally had the time to try. She also had the resolve. Casale spent many hours researching different artists and different styles and techniques of painting. When she found the work of German painter Gerhard Richter (born 1932), something inside her clicked.
For many years, Richter has used a squeegee to make his large scale color field paintings. The idea appealed to Casale and set her on a particular painting path. She set up a studio in her home, bought paints, squeegees and canvas and started to paint.
I don’t have fear,” Casale says. “I don’t feel insecure. I don’t really understand how it is I feel so much more at ease painting than when I was playing violin.” She feels that her background as a musician helps her when she paints. “I think,” she says “That the creative process is transferable in all matters of life. It’s a way of thinking, reworking ideas, solving problems and expressing your feelings.”
Casale’s paintings are textured, abstract experiments in color. There are no figures or objects present. There are no references to reality, no horizon lines or abstracted landscapes. Everything is about color, energy and connectivity. Using a palette of mostly primary colors – red, blue and yellow – Casale’s paintings feel like what an energy field might look like.
“There is so much joy and freedom in the creative process where nothing is wrong, nothing is right, and nothing is ever done,” Casale says in her artist statement. “The joy comes from the experience of ‘playing’ playing with materials, playing with colors, and playing with the energy of color.”

Paula Martiesian, a Providence-based artist and arts advocate, curates the artworks featured at BankRI Galleries.