“When I paint, I become a part of another world where time stands still, and music flows through my consciousness.” 

This is how this award winning eclectic artist approaches her art.  After obtaining a degree in English Literature, Mary Ellen taught elementary school for thirty years.  During free time, a rare commodity for a teacher, wife, and mother, she taught herself to draw and paint.  You might ask why she did that.  Always longing for fine and beautiful original art to enhance her home, she was compelled to create her own.  Since childhood she was immersed in the musical and performance arts, she then turned her artistic focus to  the visual arts and she soon found her true calling.

After retirement from teaching, Mary Ellen returned to the campus and took many credits in Drawing, Painting, and Design to hone her skills to the level of a professional artist. She says, “I’m always immersed in the creative process and get a great deal of pleasure and reward from experimentation.  I love to paint with oil, pastel, and acrylic, and I’m looking forward to the day I will be able to find the time to create with clay,”

Mary Ellen’s award winning work has been represented in galleries throughout Florida and Alabama and has recently been accepted in the Sound FX Show at the Tampa Museum of Art. She is featured  many other juried and shows in Florida as well as many other states.  Her work has sold both nationally and internationally.

The artist is a founding member and past  president of the North Tampa Arts League, as well as the founding Art Curator of the Carrollwood Cultural Center.  Born in Quincy, Mass and raised in Westchester County New York, Mary Ellen  along with her husband Richard, and their two children, Hunter and Kristy moved to New Tampa twenty years ago.

contact information:  mebitner@verizon.net    website:  www.marycurranbitnerart.com    phone: (813)977-4500            

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Pastel Society Regional Show - Dunedin Fine Arts Center

 

 

Monet's Garden-Giverny

(click on image to enlarge)

(24”x18”)  pastel

First Place Winner

NTAL Membership Show 2009

 

 

 

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