Background & work
I was born in Manchester where I lived until moving to the Isle of Skye in 1995. Having trained in the 80's at Stockport College of Art and Design as a mature student, I then worked as a professional graphic designer for many years, with illustration (traditional and digital) often forming a part of my work.
I have since developed my lifelong passion for painting, which I now concentrate on, and exhibit and sell my work from my home studio and from Inchmore Gallery near Inverness. Winner of two Highland contemporary art prizes, my work is held in private collections around the UK, Europe and the USA.
Light and atmospherics play a strong part in my finished pieces, where the build up of complex layers and the exposure of under-painting all add to the visual intensity experienced by the viewer.
Education & Training
| 1981-1985: | Open University - Arts/Humanities/Culture |
| 1985: | Stockport College of Art and Design - Life drawing |
| 1986-1988: | Stockport College of Art and Design BTEC HND Graphic Design |
Exhibitions & Awards
| 2001-2007: | An Tuireann Arts Centre, Skye - Annual Open Exhibition |
| 2004: | The Greenhouse Gallery, Sheffield - Group exhibition |
| 2004/2007: | An Tuireann Arts Centre - 1st Prize Painting & Print Award |
| 2005-2007: | Plockton Gallery, Plockton, Wester Ross - Summer show |
| 2006: | Tore Gallery, nr Inverness - Summer show |
| 2007: | An Tuireann Arts Centre, Skye - Annual Open First prize |
| 2007: | Sealladh 3, An Tuireann Arts Centre, Skye - Group exhibition |
| 2007: | Inchmore Gallery, Inverness - Mixed exhibition |
| 2007: | Inchmore Gallery, Inverness - Solo show |
| 2007: | The Lime Tree, Fort William - HOS07 exhibition |
| 2008: | Fotheringham Gallery, Bridge of Allan, Stirling |
Press
Oban Times (Nov. 04): Review An Tuireann Open.
West Highland Free Press (16/9/05)
West Highland Free Press (18/8/06): 'Island of artists'.
The Herald (28/4/07): Review of Sealladh 3 (in 'Arts, Books, Cinema')
Inverness Press & Journal (Oct 07): re Inchmore Gallery show
First prize went to a little jewel of a painting…'Indian Summer' by Mari French. The judges were taken by the sheer joy, freedom and delight in the medium…
(West Highland Free Press, 2007)
Mari's acrylic painting 'October Crofts' won the Painting & Print Award at last year's An Tuireann Annual Open Exhibition…The ambience of the painting with its melancholic hues echoed ripe and abundant autumns.…Her most recent paintings attract the eyes and stimulate the imagination with fragile webs of lines…Her acrylic works are the final stage of the creative process; fast, yet complex and palatable.
Ola Wojtkiewicz
(West Highland Free Press, 2005)