Mary Helen paints in acrylic, ink, watercolor, gouache, and oil mediums on canvas, board and paper.

The Greys and Inks are abstractions of details and colors in the landscape such as lava rock, lichens, mosses, grasses, wild flowers, branches, sea foam, seaweed, driftwood, sea stacks, beaches and rivers.

Desert Snow mixed media paintings in the modernist style of snow fall and the winter light on the deserts and landscapes of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Nevada.

New Mexico Images are watercolors in modernist and expressionist style of Taos, Arroyo Seco, the "High Road" to Taos, the Rio Grande valley and the pinon covered hills and high mountains of New Mexico.

The paintings reflect study of technique and expression of artists such as Bonnard, Miro, and Kandinsky.

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

Artist Statement

"When I paint I am always aware of intrinsic abstraction in the world I observe and compositions of line, shapes, rhythm, and color images emerge. 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"

"Deception Pass", watercolor & gouache on paper, 15.25" x 11.5"

Deep water flows between pine covered hills toward the hidden pass.

Selected Juried Shows

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 - 2007
The Art Center at the Fuller Lodge - Red Dominant Show - 2008
First National Bank of Santa Fe - Custom Banking Office - August-December 2008
Wells Fargo Bank Gallery, Santa Fe, NM - October 2008

Recent Exhibitions

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