Today we’d like to introduce you to Mallory Macher.
Hi Mallory, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I was very small I used to sell little finger paintings and marker drawings at my Mother’s yard sales. I was accepted to ODC Visual Arts program in Middle School and Governor’s School for the Arts in High School. I went on primarily in ballpoint and pencil as my own best collector. I became a professional drafter as part of an architecture degree. Studied anatomy as part of Kinesiology/Orthobionomy training. Finally in 2019 I found oil painting but just dabbled. Then in 2024 I dedicated myself to learning it properly and started portrait work because I love a challenge. While figure and realism have always been my blanket loves, I’m primarily interested in that visual space at the edge of an object where it announces itself. The fold in the fabric or the hard edge of a gnarl of wood. The crease in the eyelid. The valley in the flesh around the fingernail. The orange in the pad of a foot as the light filters through the blood vessels. The blue of the vein over the metacarpals. Swirls in the knuckles of a hand that’s been places and has something to say. I’m new to working in color but I find I wield it like a hammer. All those years in graphite and ink and now I get to use peach and ocher to make the entire object, it’s uncomfortable and exciting all at once. On a macro scale of work, I want to convey the internal world being experienced by the subject. I want the consumer to identify with the elation or the conviction or concentration of the subject. I want the poetry that goes with each piece to just be a fun explanation like an ‘ah-ha’ that compliments what they already knew when they first saw the work.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
First and foremost was just a lack of interest in learning. A very long story I’ll shorten to ‘my attitude problem’. When I was younger I was obsessed with the idea of being self-taught and absolutely ham-stringed my own education. No one could tell me anything. By the time I had to pay out of pocket for my own education and actually began to literally value it, I had left the arts education sphere but the hard lesson of time and energy lost stuck and when I came back I was prepared to accept all information. I did hone the ability to devise experiments with materials and techniques as second nature because while I was hard headed I was also inexhaustible and had infinite patience to MAKE things work. That’s easy to see in my YouTube videos where I record the experiments I do with materials and comparing results. My materials shelf looks like a witch’s potion cabinet. I’m never satisfied but I WILL find every available option and invent some new ones along the way.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Marketing still eludes me. I don’t make Pusheen bookmarks or kawaii swag and my YouTube content is decidedly more for fellow oil painters to use as a cheat sheet than it is for any entertainment purposes. No one wants to watch a time lapse of me second guessing and repainting 3 layers or staring at the board for 30 minutes trying to make up my mind about the tone of rouge. I don’t advertise my personal life and I’m not interested in anyone else’s either. So what do I offer? The work. I have the outcome of all the work. I’m proudly responsible for what’s become a respectable pile of realism works and weird techniques and effects and so far only a gallery seems to be able to effectively advertise and sell me but then the attention and renown are in real life with people who talk to their friends and neighbors about art and artists and actually put stock into a Local and remember seeing previous works and talk about commissions and then execute. Not some rando who liked an Instagram post. So while the pool of social impact is smaller it’s all the most valuable parts. Besides, oil paint has literal depth in the translucent layers and that effect can’t be readily captured in a photo. I offer real tangible physical works that had time and effort and thought and meaning poured into them and (open prints excepted) are literally one of a kind in the world. Real human made physical artworks.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
or general purpose art motivation; The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Even if all you glean from this book is ‘morning pages’ it’s worth the time and energy to read. Feel stuck? You’re not alone.
For perspective on the market; The Artist Business Plan podcast. This mostly gives me anxiety but it’s also a great bird’s eye view of the broader market and strategies I never would have thought of. Makes me feel more informed about the uncommon market of common art. Literally everyone’s strategies are different and it feels like finding little gems of ideas scattered throughout the library of interviews. Tim Ferriss for artists.
I don’t do social media. I find it’s mostly AI trash and people forgetting themselves in the anonymity of online comments or just being belligerent. I use Tumblr to collect artists. If I can’t find them there I can create a link to their website and # the content and keep it in the same place as all the rest of the work I find exciting and inspirational. Way less trash content than the average Meta platform and it doesn’t break my mental space if I’m just taking a break in the middle of the day.
Nebula for entertainment. I get inspired by archaeology and science probably more than anything and this is basically a curated platform without the snake oil and fireworks so there’s room in the story for me to take real ideas and get creative and not have to be too concerned that I’m standing on an internet trend instead of solid information.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mallorymacher.com
- Instagram: @MalloryMakesMagic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DttXrzDC3/
- Youtube: @MalloryMacher
