“Art is joyful to me…!”

Mary currently resides in Birmingham, Al.  She received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Masters in Elementary Education from the University of Alabama.

Alabama native, Mary Bryan, cannot remember when she wasn’t drawing or painting. 

She is a self-taught artist who has done, literally, thousands of sketches, drawings and paintings and enjoys working mostly in acrylics, watercolor, pen & ink, and colored pencil.

Mary enjoys doing ‘fanciful’ art… bringing her visions to canvas…Though much of her art is a mixture of realistic and impressionistic, some of her pen and ink drawings have the look of fine photography…

Mary states, “I see ‘art’, everywhere…!  I find my inspiration in the daily joy of being an artist…from the exotic places I’ve visited, and the mundane...and, especially, from the joy of being an inveterate ‘people watcher’…!”

In addition to her family, Mary’s two loves and passions for the last 20 years have been her vocation as a teacher in the Mt. Brook School System, and a love for running.

In her chosen profession as a teacher, Mary has won awards such as the Heart Association’s “Teacher of the Year” award.

Mary has competed with award winning times in 22 marathons, including completing the Boston, Chicago, and New York Marathons.  Her passion for running, in conjunction with her talent for design, has resulted in her being asked to design the event posters for the prestigious Mercedes Marathon and the Mercedes Kids Marathon for 4 of the last 5 years, and, for 2008.

Publications:  Mary’s art has appeared in such venues as the Birmingham News and the Birmingham Magazine.  A feature story about Mary and her art appeared in the “Over the Mountain Journal”.

Charity Events: Mary’s work is often sought after for city-wide, fund-raising events.  Since Mary lost her husband to cancer, in 2003, Mary’s mission has been to help stop cancer and she has raised thousands of dollars for cancer research by donating her art to events that support that cause, such as the “UAB Breast Cancer Research Tee Party” and ‘Camp Smile-A-Mile” for children with cancer.

Not content with supporting just cancer research, Mary has contributed her work numerous times to events such as the “Birmingham Aids Outreach Valentine Dine’ charity auctions.  Mary’s donated art appeared with that of world wide celebrities such as Madonna, Bono and Courtney Cox.