Welcome

"Mary Roettger likes pinecones, Slinkies, and nautilus shells. The common denominator: pattern, and in particular spirals. A pinecone's seeds are arranged according to a pair of intersecting s-curves. With the spirals, as the Slinkies suggest, there is a sense of movement, the dynamism of curves in the process of uncoiling, releasing energy and revealing the form.

Roettger is dedicated to composition in the broad sense, (and) to well-ordered designs. Yet her interest in systems of order within both mathematics and nature points up larger, more philosophical concerns.

She loves color, but knows how to balance the bright and the subdued, to energize the physical forms while creating different combinations from different viewpoints. Just as she uses modulated colors, so she favors a surface that has a certain crustiness to it, a texture that is not machine-like or precious.

Roettger exploits the wave-like moire' patterns created by layered, latticework forms, creating an effect that is both an optical phenomenon and another sign of her fascination with geometrical systems".

Robert Silberman,
McKnight Artist Fellowship Catalog