Mary Beth Fogarty

Mary Beth Schmidt Fogarty was born on February 19, 1943 to German immigrants Dorthea and Emil Schmidt. She grew up on her family farm in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, where her mother ran a cake shop, and her father worked as a farmer. She lived on the farm until attending university for art practice and education in 1962 at Stephen’s College, Missouri. She went on to get a bachelors in art education at San Jose State University in California, and years later in 1984 completed an MFA in fine art and sculpture from the University of Nebraska. She rose as a working artist in a space and time traditionally coined “a boys club.” She was an inspiration to other women trying to find their place as artists in the midwest. Her struggles with mental health–while often undetected outside of her work–created a strong dichotomy: there was the Mary Beth who laughed and played, and the Mary Beth whose dark figures and depressive episodes shone light onto a pain unseen. Mary Beth worked across a number of media, including painting, sculpture, paper making, printmaking, and collage. Her paintings were largely inspired by 20th century German expressionism: intentional use of color, line, and abstract figures that expressed elements of the artist’s personality and innermost thoughts. Much of her work had the spirit of being unfinished. The process of making work was as important to her as the finished product. At her show at the Museum of Art in Nebraska, curator Josephine Martens included a sketch of Mary Beth’s done in marker on a paper bag. It stood out unanimously as the most popular piece at her opening night. She created urgently, compulsively, and deliberately. At her studio, she kept the news on. Global current events would weave themselves onto the surface of her paintings. Her artwork was described as encapsulating two parts of her: her reaction to the physicality of life, and her reaction to the spirituality of life, which came together in a confused way. She used her various mediums as an agent to express life’s tangibles, and she used color, line, and form to express a spiritual state. Mary Beth was deeply rooted in symbolism. Mary Beth touched people. She sketched her servers. She captivated her students. She framed anything her children made. Curators who were otherwise unphased by the emotionality of their artists were struck by the voice within her work. It was not uncommon for curators and artists to sense a profound presence within her pieces, and an immediate intimacy upon meeting her. This intensity was as haunting as it was inspiring. Even those who preferred traditional landscapes of the midwest and realistic portraiture favored Mary Beth’s abstract expressionism. Mary Beth was hospitalized after a suicide attempt in 1992. Her release was followed by what has been described as “ten great years”. She had the biggest show of her career in 2001 at the Goethe Institute; she was the only living artist to exhibit that year for the New York City museum mile. In 2002, she was diagnosed with cancer. She slowly started to lose mobility in her arm, jeopardizing her ability to create. She took her own life on May 14th, 2002. She was survived by her sons Robert, Zack, and Ted Fogarty. She left behind nearly 1600 sketches and paintings tucked inside of books, basements and attics. There are likely hundreds of others owned by strangers, family, and friends.