Mari's background in the arts has been both musical and visual: as a classically trained violist and pianist and through early exposure to art from her childhood.   Mari lived in England, New Zealand, USA, and Canada.  Her experiences with architecture, antiques and art traditions throughout history was the gift of the 'old' and 'new' worlds:  the curvilinear and geometric patterns of Celtic art, friezes, stained glass and gargoyles alike are part of this pot pourri, along with Maori and Asian design, notably in her pen and inks.

 

Other influences have been the many additional arts and materials she have worked with: sculpting, spinning/ dyeing/ weaving, leather, metalwork, needlework, quilting, landscape design and photography. 

 

Mari's eclectic background serves her well as an artist in watercolours, pastels, coloured pencil, ink, conté, graphite, acrylic, pen and ink. Her Canadian visual arts background includes: Sheridan College, Visual Arts Mississauga, Oakville Art Society, the Spillane Studio of Fine Arts, Haliburton's Fleming School of the Arts, and Sunbury Shores Arts Centre in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. A solo show served as a serendipitous link to the covers of the journal “American Psychologist”, which will published in May 2016.