Parakeets of Paris

About this event

Parakeets of Paris

Mary Payton

Showing November 2026

Artist Reception November 6, 6-8PM

About the Show

Flocks of vibrant green parakeets now inhabit the parks of Paris. I spotted one while strolling with my husband and was utterly captivated. No one seems to know exactly how they arrived there, or when. Theories abound, of course. I prefer to think that one rebellious green goddess broke free, found her way to the dreamiest city in the world, and began a life entirely of her own. That was the moment it all started for her. Now she is an empire.

To me, these birds embody beauty, strength, resilience, joy, and freedom, all that I hope my work, and perhaps my own life, can be.

In this collection, I explore feelings of joy and playfulness using the professional counterparts of the tools I first loved as a child: pencil and crayon. The work translates my usual expansive, full-body mark-making into smaller, more deliberate gestures. Like Paris itself, it is ultimately about beauty, observation, and the richness of visual lived experience.