Rural Wisconsin gave Mary her love of nature and gardening. She received an M.F. A. in Costume Design from the University of Wisconsin- Madison where she began to photograph her costumes, and realized she loved photography. Mary began working in the alternative processes and achieved success with her images of farms, family and woodlands. She had shows in New York, Minneapolis, MN, and across the country. Working with negative gum prints from old family tintypes, she won the Third Ward Window Installation prize with a large installation in a costume rental shop. She received a grant from the Women’s Art Registry in Minnesota to work with Sam Taylor.