Artist Biography

“Art operates with infinitely small dimensions.”
Kandinsky, Program for the Institute of Artistic Culture, 1920

Mary Helen Follingstad holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver (1966) and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Colorado (1973).

Her unique pen and ink drawings and sculpture were exhibited in juried and group shows in Denver and Boulder, Colorado in the early1970’s.  Mary Helen has also had a long public service career in community planning and design (1979 – 2009).  She returned to drawing and painting in 1990 and began exhibiting work again in June of 2002.  

Mary Helen paints in watercolor, gouache, acrylic and oil mediums on paper, board and canvas.  Current work is colorful and whimsical impressions and abstractions of New Mexico and western landscapes, architecture, still life portraits of flowers and abstractions of similar subject matter.  This work is inspired by study of technique and expression of artists such as Bonnard, Miro, and Kandinsky.

Mary Helen is a native of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Artist Statement

"When I make art I am always aware of intrinsic abstraction in the world I observe. Art is a window where three dimensions are abstracted into the two dimensional picture plane and compositions of shapes, line, rhythm, and color images are made. My paintings – like Haiku – are unique observations of being and spirit in the moment."

Silent volcanoes rise at prairies edge – yellow  grass, stormy black sky.
Mary Helen Follingstad

"Near Raton", watercolor, 15" x 15"

Selected Juried Shows

Challenge New Mexico Plaza Arts and Crafts Festival (June 2002)
Santa Fe Council of the Arts Markets (October 2002)
The Art Center at the Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos – Miniature Show (February 2003)
The Art Center at the Fuller Lodge – Enchanted by Bandelier Show (August 2003)
Tybie Davis Sutin Gallery in the Santa Fe Public Library (March 2004)
Masterworks of New Mexico (April 2004)
2004 National Small Works Show – Red Dot Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
Inside 8 – Center for Contemporary Arts - Santa Fe, NM (May 2004)
Encantada! Rio Grande Art Association Annual Juried Show – 2004
National Water Color Society – All Member Exhibition -2005
Collect New Mexico – Museum of New Mexico Foundation – 2005
Masterworks of New Mexico – Miniature Show (April 2007)
The Art Center at the Fuller Lodge – Red Dominant Show – 2008

Gallery Representation

Artistas de Santa Fe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico (2003-2007)
Metaform Gallery, Taos, New Mexico (2003-2005)
Mesas Edge, Taos, New Mexico (2005-2007)

Recent Exhibition

First National Bank of Santa Fe – Custom Banking Office – August-December 2008
Wells Fargo Bank Gallery, Santa Fe, NM – October 2008

Professional Associations

National Watercolor Society (2003 – present)
American Watercolor Society (2003 – present)