Mary Ann Sanders

Mary Ann Sanders

Mary Ann Sanders was born in Iowa in 1921. She attended Iowa State College, and married Paul Brandt in 1943. After the start of World War II, Mary Ann moved to Seattle where she worked for Boeing Aircraft— a real “Rosie the Riveter”—while Paul served as a naval officer in the Pacific theater. From the 1940s through the 1960s, she raised three children while nurturing her interest in the visual arts. In the 1960s, she took art courses at Virginia Commonwealth University, became a certified yoga instructor, and had several pieces selected for Juried Artist Biennial Exhibitions, sponsored by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

In 1973,Mary Ann discovered finger painting. Her success in that medium brought numerous solo exhibitions at the University of Richmond’s Marsh Art Gallery and elsewhere. She also received a Residency Fellowship at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where her miniature series was begun in 1983. Her work has been featured in television documentaries and literary magazines, and has recently been sought as cover imagery for several international fiction and nonfiction publications. Mary Ann and Paul produced a 27-minute video in 1994 entitled Finger Painting as Fine Art, and in 1998 her work went on-line through her Web site, www.fingerpainter.com. Mary Ann’s paintings are in public and private collections throughout the United States, Scotland, England, Brazil, Germany,Austria,Australia, France, and Canada.The artist and her husband live in Richmond,Virginia, where Mary Ann remains an active artist and creator.

The paintings in this exhibition are on loan from the artist and several anonymous lenders.The Office of Statewide Partnerships of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has organized this exhibition with generous support from The Council of VMFA.