Artist’s statement

I am a painter and printmaker working in Provincetown, MA, US. My work focuses on one’s ongoing familiarity with internal and external consciousness in different environments. I aim to create a dialogue with how memory is managed using place-specific motifs in my work. My dune grass works chart overlapping layers of consciousness: what we remember, what fades, and what returns altered. I make monotype-paintings using layers of pigment and form to evoke how we experience the weathered memories of place, most recently, the Provincelands of the Outer Cape. I focus on rural places that may at times feel forgotten given the crushing drive towards global urbanization. My printmaking mimics excavation—where emotion, experience, and time meet in layered form. The works are made in such a way that they gradually build into textured, emotionally resonant fields. The gestures that surface, recede, and blur into one another hold space for the ambiguous and unseen aspects of places in transition.

Biography

My artistic journey has evolved from a dedicated lifelong practice of painting, drawing, and printmaking into a public, professional endeavor. My professional training in the arts is a blend of formal foundational education and ongoing practical development. It began with a special art curriculum at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, where I studied composition, design, and color theory, alongside techniques in printmaking, stained glass, and ceramics. This creative background is complemented by a bachelor’s degree in history, as well as a master’s and a doctoral degree in social welfare policy, providing a unique interdisciplinary lens that deeply informs my work. My artistic practice has been further refined through continuing education at key institutions on Cape Cod, including the Fine Arts Work Center, Castle Hill Center for the Arts in Truro, and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. My personal and community art-related work has been recognized with grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Provincetown Commons. I teach a printmaking class at The Provincetown Commons. My work has been featured in juried group exhibitions, including shows at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) and the Cape Cod Cultural Center. I have also had three two-person shows at Four Eleven Gallery (Provincetown, Massachusetts) and have been included in group shows at several other galleries, including, Yellow Studios (Cross River, New York), Edgewater Gallery (Brattleboro, Vermont) and Galley West Gallery (Orleans, Massachusetts), among others. I am currently represented by Four Eleven Gallery in Provincetown, MA.

Juried exhibitions

Visual Voice: Freedom to Create, Winter 2026

Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA, US

After the Leaves Have Gone, Winter 2026

The Cape Cod Cultural Center, South Yarmouth, MA, US

The Yellow Show, Winter 2026

Yellow Gallery, Cross River, NY, US

Bright/Light, Winter 2025

The Cape Cod Cultural Center, South Yarmouth, MA, US

Forum 49, Summer 2024

Provincetown Museum and Provincetown Art Association and Museum

Provincetown, MA, US

6th Annual Winter Exhibit, January 2024

The Winfisky Gallery, Salem, MA, US

Reflections, December 2023

Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, VT, US

Winter Group Show, Winter 2023

Galley West Art Gallery, Orleans, MA, US

Progression: New Paintings, October 2023

The Provincetown Commons, Provincetown, MA, US

Home gallery exhibitions

Feel the love, February 2026

Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US

The time is always ripe: Gallery artists’ show, January 2026

Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US

Hope in the moment: Mary Giammarino & Elspeth Slayter, August 2025

Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US

Welcome Home, May 2025

Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US

We move above the moving tree: Mary Giammarino & Elspeth Slayter, November 2024

Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US

Mary Giammarino with works by Elspeth Slayter, August 2024

Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US

Welcome Home, May 2024

Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US

Press 

“Celebrating a community of women and non-binary artists” (January 28, 2026). The Provincetown Independent.https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2026/01/28/arts-briefs-225/#Celebrating%20an%20Artistic%20Community%20of%20Women

“Sail Loft Artist’s Collective exhibition at Castle Hill this February.” (January 20, 2026). Wicked Local.https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/news/local/2026/01/20/sail-loft-artists-collective-brings-winter-art-show-to-truro/88176638007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=false&gca-epti=z111101p001150c001150v111101&gca-ft=55&gca-ds=sophi

“De-mystifying printmaking.” (January 15, 2026). The Provincetown Independent.https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2026/01/14/arts-briefs-223/#Demystifying%20Printmaking

“Art that Bridges Divides: An Exhibition that Honors the Legacy and Vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.” (January 15, 2025). The Provincetown Independent. https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2025/01/15/art-that-bridges-divides/

“New Studios — and a Community of Artists — Take Shape on Shank Painter Road

The Commons expands its reach with eight workspaces and a communal gallery (November 13, 2024). The Provincetown Independent.

https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2024/11/13/new-studios-and-a-community-of-artists-take-shape-on-shank-painter-road/

“Twice as Nice: Works by Elspeth Slayter and Mary Giammarino.” (November 21, 2024). The Provincetown Independent.https://provincetownindependent.org/indies-choice/2024/11/20/indies-choice-207/

“Working Towards Imperfection: Elspeth Slayter Layers Colors Over Artifacts and Memories.” (August 7, 2024). The Provincetown Independent. https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2024/08/07/working-toward-imperfectionism/

“Progression: Works by Elspeth Slayter at The Commons.” (October 12, 2023). Cape Cod Times.

Residencies

Cycladic Arts, Paros, Greece, May 2027

Rose and Rosano Studios, Tucson, AZ, US, January 2025

Education

PhD, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, US (2006)

MA, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, US (2004)

MSW, New York University, New York, NY, US (1995)

BA, Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN, US (1990)