Mary Welke

My inspiration comes from landscape and things in nature.

Growing up near the Mississippi River in NE Minneapolis, exploring the riverbank and fields, as well as weeding flower beds and helping my grandmother work in her large vegetable garden helped shape my love for nature at an early age. It was here I learned about the fragile beauty of the land and her gifts. I learned about the cycle of life, transformation of organic material and the process of renewal through the simple art of digging, planting and picking plants.

I am mostly known for my birch tree series, fields and wetland paintings for their meditative and tranquil qualities.

My BFA is from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and my MFA is from Pratt Institute in NYC. My work is in international, private and corporate collections such as US Bank Corporation, Nordstrom, and Regions Hospital.

I am honored to be a recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant 2020 to support new, mixed media paintings on the subject of the prairie, prescribed burns and farmland restoration.