Mary Parkerson is an award-winning Bay Area artist and teacher, recognized for her extensive range of oil and acrylic painting skills, from contemporary abstracts to representational pieces. Her coastal lifestyle in Carmel, and now Benicia, inspires many of her atmospheric land and seascapes.

Admirers and collectors of Mary’s paintings describe her work as emotive, romantic, alluring and heartfelt.

These qualities are evident whether she is capturing the interplay of light and color across a verdant garden, or evoking the windswept mistiness of her beloved California coast in an impressionistic abstract.

One of a family of artists and art appreciators/collectors in New Orleans, creativity and art has always played an essential role in Mary’s self-expression.

As a teen, Mary taught painting to school children, following which her development as an artist was fostered during studies in Silicon Valley’s Foothill and De Anza Colleges, followed by tutorage by the renowned late artist, Michael Linstrom.

Mary’s life-long commitment to art has also been evidenced in her teaching of numerous students throughout her career, along with workshops, demos and special exhibits.