Mary Pettis was born in 1953 on a farm in southern Minnesota. Growing up in the country, she followed the rhythm of the seasons: barefoot before the ground was dry in Spring, baling hay, feeding chickens, tromping through the sloughs and ravines and helping "put up" food for the large farm family. At 15, Mary discovered that painting seemed a natural means by which she could express her enjoyment and love of nature. While receiving a BFA in Art and in Humanities from the College of St. Benedict, Mary studied with Hungarian artist Bela Petheo at nearby St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. She excelled in advanced courses in Modern Composition and in Abstract Art at Mankato State University during the summer. She also did extensive research abroad in art museums from Amsterdam to Rome. Mary's love for the traditional style emerged in 1975 when she was accepted to a 3-year full-time student apprenticeship in Classical Realism at Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During that period, she also studied copperplate etching with C. Daniel Graves (founder and director of the Florence Academy of the Arts - Florence, Italy). Working daily from antique plaster casts and from the figure gave her a solid foundation and disciplined approach which would never leave her. Through the years, while continuing to read and study the Masters, she opened a studio gallery, taught classes and led workshops on various topics. She spent many years painting commissions, portraits, and highly illustrative wildlife and genre pictures to the commercial specifications of various publishers. While this was a sidetrack from "following her muse", she recognized it as an important part of her artistic journey. As she says, "There is something to be learned from every subject, every challenge, and every failed attempt. Just when I would begin despairing over my artistic growth, I would see a tiny touch of... http://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2016/05/Mary-Pettis.html undefined

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