Mary’s first love was Black and White Photography, which is the media she focused on for her 2-year degree in Photography in the ‘80’s. She spent the next 30 years honing her skills in Black & While, Color and Digital Photography while working full-time as a single mom of 2 boys. In 2018, she took up oil painting and found a way to combine her 2 passions. Her paintings are created from images she has taken over the years. Some work she chooses to present as photos because the image is stronger in that media. An image is painted when it can be enhanced to provoke more feeling. Landscape is her first love although she is delving into other subjects.

After completing a 4-year degree in Consumer Economics, Mary returned to Brookdale where she completed a 2-year degree in Photography. At the time, Brookdale’s photography major focused on primarily Black & White film shooting, developing and printing. As part of her major, she put together two independent study portfolios. The first was an architectural based portfolio of the doors of London. The second portfolio consisted of black & white images, printed on N surface paper, which was then hand colored with photographic pencils. Throughout the 80’s, Mary continued with her work in black & white while adding in color photography. In the 90’s, Mary returned to school at the International Center for Photography in New York City where Mary expanded her Black & White portfolio and learned color printing. While she has always continued her film photography, with the arrival of digital photography, most of her more recent work in color digital. In 2013, Mary started oil painting lessons. Most of her work is based on photos Mary took throughout her life and travels. Mary had a one artist exhibit of a combination of her photos and painting in 2020 at Charlies Restaurant in Long Branch and Beach Grille in 2022. Various photos and paintings have been selected for The Gallery – Monmouth Park and other shows.