ABSTRACT
When Mary Zakarian disembarked in October of 1971 from the plane that landed in Yerevan, the capital of Soviet Armenia, she marveled at the brightness of the sun. The architectural wonders of Armenia have survived for centuries, standing as a mute witness to the chaos and devastation inflicted over and over upon the people. There are thousand-year-old churches, dating from the last period, and prior to the twentieth century, of independence in the historic homeland. The experience of visiting the homeland was at once visceral and spiritual, a connection to the rocky earth, the ancient structures, and the mountain not so far over the Turkish border where Noah's Ark landed. Mary would capture it all with her sketchpad and camera, and paint it when she returned home. She sketched the ruins of churches; she walked the terrain and photographed the rocks, the lakes, and the architecture.
