At 14 years of age, Mary registered for a summer art class at Mater Dei Catholic high school in NJ, inspired by a red-haired nun wearing blue mohair dresses and bauble beads. She found a haven and a form of personalized community activism in that art department, not unlike what she later encountered at UW-Madison and CUNY Brooklyn.

 

For her, Catholicism and environmentalism are both global, ancient, and focused on well being. The vast infrastructure of the Church is a perfect vehicle to convey messages via art of care for our common home, the Earth, and the salvation of our own and other species.

 

Gold, silver, and bronze paint on her statues and paintings reflect the sacred; as do the animals, waterways, body parts, and languages that are lost to extinction, pollution, and ultimately, greed. Lines and patterns reflect the continuation or end of time for each. The crumpling and ironing of paper is about altering our world just by existing.