Mary Mann

Mary Mann is an adjunct painting instructor at the Tacoma School of the Arts and a native of Tacoma. She lived for a number of years in Missoula, Montana and acquired her degree in commercial art from the Colorado Institute of Art.

She worked as a graphic designer before choosing to focus on painting.  During her years as a mural painter, she worked on many large public pieces in the Tacoma area, specifically, historical murals for the Tacoma Little Theater, Stadium District and South Tacoma Community. 

Her commissioned work has been featured in the Seattle Children’s Museum, Victorian Decorating magazine and HGTV’s Restore America.  

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Article from May 2008 Issue of Magazine:
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"The intrinsic narrative woven into Mary Mann's paintings evokes the kind of comfort associated with a favored warm blanket or prized stuffed animal. She's bred that association in her audiences tacitly, through the many familiar murals that magically appear on building facades throughout the city of Tacoma.

The people she paints appeal to everyone: they are like neighbors at a summer barbecue or the postman who delivers mail all the way to your doorstep. Subliminally, she is creating a collective story, and, like any good novelist, she has incorporated us all into her vision.

Stepping away from the largescale murals for which she is known, in her most recent work - a series of smaller oil paintings - Mary seeks to take us on a new journey: one of memory and mystery and moments punctuated by time. Her intimate studies of simple objects reinforce a desire to covet, further enveloping us as participants rather than onlookers. - T.P."