Meet Mary Barr Rhodes

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mary Barr Rhodes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mary Barr, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I have found my purpose through my creative process.

I create artwork at the threshold of art, science and spirituality.

My process is both methodical and intuitive: each chard of glass is deliberately positioned as though solving a puzzle of light, forming pockets of vibration that pulse with quiet intensity. I create a tactile presence through my materials to further elicit a physical, almost instinctive desire to touch and connect, grounding my luminous abstractions back to the earth. In doing so, I position my practice as a form of spiritual inquiry, one that gestures toward balance, restoration, and the unifying principles of the quantum field.

Across paintings and sculptures, My aim is not to narrate but to attune—stripping away representation so that viewers engage directly with the radiant energies before them. My work is both sensual and contemplative, merging science with mysticism, materiality with transcendence, and in doing so offers a transformative encounter with light itself.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Mary Barr Rhodes creates luminous, mixed-media works that exist at the threshold where art, science, and spirituality converge. Drawing upon the elemental forces of light and color, her practice seeks to evoke a sense of wonder while reconnecting viewers to primordial energies that lie beneath the surface of perception.

Infused with the sensibilities of Abstract Expressionism yet rooted in contemporary material experimentation, Rhodes’ work engages directly with the physics of light. Using glass, foils, films, and resin, she orchestrates radiant surfaces that refract and magnify color into shifting spectrums of resonance. These visual phenomena are not simply aesthetic effects but studied explorations of how light, when dispersed across varied textures and densities, can activate both the eye and the psyche. Each composition becomes a vision of energy—a field of radiant frequencies in dialogue with the body and spirit of the viewer.

Her artwork is in numerous prestigious corporations such as Graydon Law, First Financial Bank, Von Lehman Accounting, KMK Law and Johnson Investment Counsel. Her artwork is also in numerous homes across the United States, Europe and South America.

Recent highlights include an award by Polly Magazine and being named Artist of the Year by Art Design Consultants. She was recently commissioned by Cincinnati Art Underground to create a large work for a new boutique hotel, The Kinley. In addition, she was awarded grant monies through FotoFocus to produce a glass and light installation at Par-Projects.

Rhodes lives and works in Cincinnati, OH.

I am currently curating an art exhibition that opens October 3, 2025 at RM Living. BALANCE, is a dynamic and diverse art exhibition featuring nine female artists from different backgrounds, each bringing a unique artistic perspective. This month-long event will showcase a wide range of artistic expressions of female creativity, and engage the community in meaningful
artistic dialogue.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Working and traveling with fellow, female artists early in my art career informed the entire rest of my career. They provided a deep knowledge of the art world and how it worked. They discussed skill sets with me and discussed the spiritual context of abstract expressionism. And, most of all, they assured me that a young woman recently married and planning to be a Mother, could do all of the above. That being an artist is a way of life.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I collaborate with a different artist every year. I usually select someone from a different media. I would love to work with a national level sculptor. I would like to collaborate with someone that shares my artistic goals.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Joe VanDeHatert, Studio V, Cincinnati, OH.

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