Mary Byrom paints a tiny scene on the Salmon Falls River in South Berwick

Photo by Andrew Moore

It takes a few minutes to find a mid-ground -- or speaking speed -- that accommodates typing fingers and the fast-moving mind of Mary Byrom, of South Berwick. But eventually the artist taps the vocal brakes enough so her story can be followed.

It's hard to believe this live wire is capable of sitting for hours in a bucolic setting, catching cloud formations; sun-dappled trees or seascapes on canvas. But sit she does, brush in hand, putting balance in her life with a change in subject, from her alternative work that addresses the world's horrors.

The product of these respites is on view at the Portsmouth Kennedy Studios through July 31.

"You have this beautiful nature all around you, and then you have all these people doing these horrible things. I find myself in the middle of these extremes. I think of it as a line; the beauty of nature on this side, then, on the other side of the spectrum, horrible crimes. I'm in the middle seeing both," she says. "I find the landscapes a perfect balance to the human rights (art), "because I'm looking at pieces of the planet that are still beautiful. I'm also able to see moments of beauty, for example, the way the light will strike something at a time of day. "It's part of the whole big picture."

Painting any subject is "a return to the life she once knew." It's been more than a decade since Byrom has had a major show. A professional artist since 1975, her career came to an end when she was struck by a car on Bow Street in 1989. Painting, along with most her life, was put on hold for the next 10 years. Byrom broke all three large bones in her left leg, and her knee was destroyed. There was nearly a month in the hospital, followed by seven years of daily physical therapy.

About mid-way through the period, she started dreaming about landscapes, a departure from the abstract and three-dimensional work she'd been creating before the accident. But it was only dreams, she says.

She also met and married Marcus Gayle during this period.

"My husband started practicing Falun Gong. He looked really good, really healthy. So, I thought I'd try it out."

It consisted of sitting meditation and a physical practice similar to tai chi. "It was easy and I learned in a week; and immediately I had physical improvements."

She says, while such immediacy doesn't occur for all, it's not uncommon for those who have ailments when they begin the practice. In time she gained back the strength in her leg, along with a sense of "being very energized and light," which motivated her to return to her work.

In time she was able to hike again, and that's when she took up the practice of painting beautiful regional places "" just as she'd dreamed during those years of rehab.

Even though Byrom attended more than four colleges from '71 to '76, she is a product of an era when many institutions didn't teach the art basics. When she made the decision to return to painting, she decided to get the basics.

In 1999 she signed on to study with renowned painting instructor Sean Beavers, at Eliot's Sanctuary Arts.

"He teaches traditional oils. I wanted to get back the control and get the solid foundations." She stayed with him for years, and went on to study with other instructors. Armed with her new understanding she began plein air or on-site painting.

In addition to her Kennedy show, Byrom has a painting from this series on display in Concord, at the Pierce Law School, in LACA's "Exhibit A: Summer Art at Pierce Law," through Sept. 4. Her painting received the "Viewer's Choice Award."

But it was her newly found belief system that turned her eye and skill on to human rights issues, in about 2004. Through her practice she started meeting people who left China owing to persecution, including numerous art instructors who had been imprisoned and tortured for their practice of Falun Dafa (Falun Gong).

Her first human right's series addressed the issue of torture. Today she's painting on the human organ trade.

"The only reason I'm addressing it is because people are too afraid to do anything on China. People want to be quiet about issues there "because they have business there."

Works from this series will be exhibited at Copley Square Plaza in Boston, July 24 through July 27. The event will include an address by two Canadians, [human rights lawyer]David Mattas, [and former]parliament member David Kilgore. It's the work of these two men that has inspired her, she says. Together they did independent investigation on China's live organ harvesting business, which exports all over the world. The exhibit is timed to be in the city during the World Transplant Conference at Boston's Hynes Center.

Most of those used for organ harvesting are practitioners of Falun Dafa, she says. "They're rounding them up, holding them in prison connected to hospitals, and they've set up a business, "selling the organs." She also took part in a 2005 exhibition on torture in Chicago.

"This work is motivated because I want to help people; definitely. "There is nothing wrong with making the world a better place to live in. It's so unnecessary that so many people should be affected so horribly. There are better ways for us all to live." But it can be difficult to go to these dark places, which takes her back to the paintings of beautiful vistas.

"The time spent alone interpreting the beauty and moments of nature are what make it possible for me to see clearly and act directly to effect change when I see these huge crimes being committed," she says. "I want to put something into the art, to share a moment of time or of beauty or of understanding, put them out there as message for anyone that can possibly gain from it. It's like a language, a different language of the spirit. And other people out there notice it and understand it completely. "My life has come full circle."

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