Raised along the New England coast in Connecticut, conservationist Mary Erickson has been painting since childhood. She studied at the University of Bridgeport and Sacred Heart University and initially pursued a career in business management. A move to Florida in 1986 prompted a desire to pursue her love of art. Erickson began an intense, self-directed study of nature and painting, supplemented with week-long workshops with contemporary artists. Through dedication and hard work, she realized her dream, and in 1993 Erickson began painting professionally.

Preferring to work on location, the artist captures both the essence and the detailed characteristics of the landscapes, shorelines, and marine life she loves. Plein air-painting tours have taken her around the United States and abroad to Spain, France, Guatemala, Argentina, and Ireland. The artist’s day typically begins before sunrise and ends after the last sunset painting. A week-long painting tour will end in exhaustion, with the exhilarating accomplishment of creating anywhere from 10 to 20 small paintings. Be it solitary excursions or group efforts with other professionals or students, Erickson believes these painting trips are essential to an artist’s career and growth.

Erickson is a Co-Founder and the President of the American Tonalist Society and a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists, Artists for Conservation, Plein Air Painters of the Southeast, and the Society of Animal Artists. Since 1998 the artist has maintained studios in Marshville, North Carolina — where her 39-acre residence is slated to be left as an artist retreat and bird sanctuary — and Venice, Florida.    

Her award-winning work has been exhibited in private and public collections throughout the country and is collected in the United States and Europe. Erickson’s largest project to date is the creation of artwork for the Water Street Hotel & Marina in Apalachicola, Florida. This luxurious waterfront property features Erickson’s original oil paintings and reproductions in the main lobby and each of the suites.

Erickson is represented by Helena Fox Fine Art (Charleston), Palm Avenue Fine Art (Sarasota, FL), The Englishman Fine Art (Naples, FL), Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art (Charlotte, NC), The Gallery at Somes Sound (Mount Desert, ME), and Sheldon Fine Art (Naples, FL and Newport, RI).