Focusing her work on two materials – tracing paper and wheat paste – Mary Button Durell produces surreal and organic paper works that can range from 6 inches to 10 feet. She takes her inspiration out of the desire to simplify and explore the challenges of working with limited materials. Tracing paper also allows her to explore the properties of light and translucency – a distinctive and dynamic aspect of her work. The excitement and curiosity comes with pushing the limits with one medium and the continuous process of reconfiguring and reshaping the paper in new directions. Themes of contrasting forces also carry through her work – fragility and >strength, opacity and translucence, heaviness and lightness.