Mary Farrell

I grew up in northern Kentucky the second oldest in a family of seven children. My father was a TB doctor.  I received my BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati where I majored in printmaking and continued my studies in drawing. With the travel scholarship I won there I traveled to France and Italy. In 1990 I won a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and three Individual Artist Grants from the City of Cincinnati in 1989, 1992, and 1994. After a period of continued studio work and adjunct teaching I went to graduate school at the University of Cincinnati and received an MFA in printmaking and another travel scholarship this time traveling to Ireland, the home of my paternal relatives. In 1995 I joined the Art Department at Gonzaga University in Spokane Washington to direct the printmaking program where I taught printmaking and drawing. I am currently a Professor Emeritus from Gonzaga after retiring in 2020.I’ve exhibited my work in shows both nationally and internationally. Internationally my work has been shown in China, Italy, India, Bulgaria, the UK, South Korea, New Zealand, Finland, Mexico, Spain, and the Ukraine. My work is collected in both private and public collections including the Portland Art Museum, the City of Seattle Art Collection, The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, The China National Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou China, and many corporate collections. I’ve won a fellowship grant from Artist Trust of Washington State in 2000 and two Artist Trust GAP Grants in 1997 and 2000. In 2001 I was awarded the Scholar of the Year Award at Gonzaga and through 2019 I was the Kreielsheimer Professor of Art in the art department.In 2008 I was invited to teach and show my work at the Hubei Academy of Art in Wuhan China where I was also awarded Visitor Professor status in their printmaking department. I returned again to teach and show my work in 2012 and to collaborate on woodcut prints with the artist Zhang Guanghui who is the chair of their printmaking program.