MaryJo Rosania was
born and raised in suburban northern New Jersey
and migrated to Pennsylvania to study at Kutztown
University. After spending many years earning a
BFA with a concentration in sculpture and a minor
in theater she later decided to become an art teacher.
MaryJo went back to school for Post-Baccalaureate
certification in Art Education and moved to Bucks
County, PA and to teach art at Hunterdon Central
high school in Flemington, New Jersey. Her interdisciplinary
education at Kutztown contributes to the hybrid
quality of her work, a combination of video, performance,
projects and text. MaryJo received her MFA from
The Union Institute at Vermont College and continues
to make work that explores the complexity of identity,
the formation of archetypes and most recently has
found interest in the fictions that exist in everyday
life.
Events in MaryJo’s
life inspired her to unravel of the layers of her
own personality to look deeper into her childhood,
adolescent and adult reality and dreams. The resulting
work is varied and includes videos, photographs,
performances and a script for a short film.
Her past works explored
feminine masquerade through the use of costume,
and gradually moved to the psychological realm as
MaryJo split apart her own identity through performance
and persona.
MaryJo’s current
black and white photographic works make reference
to the cinema while her present video work directly
incorporates pre-existing film, as well as miniatures
and the use of written text (as a script). This
current video is in collaboration with composer
Peter Young.
MaryJo is a member
of the collective Without Walls, a group that strives
to move art beyond gallery walls, to reach a wider
audience, she participated in the Philadelphia Fringe
Festival for three years and won first prize at
the 2005 Hunterdon Museum of Art Member’s
Exhibition for her video Conversation. MaryJo exhibits
her work regionally in Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and most recently, Ohio (January 06).
