Biography - Mary Medrano

On August 17, 1955 Mary Elizabeth Law was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan to John and Helen Law. Her mother was a librarian for the Wayne-Westland Schools and her father worked for Ford Motor Company for over 30 years. Mary is the 4th of four children (Mark, John, James and Mary).

As a young girl, Mary's mother taught her to sew, embroider, knit, crochet, macrame, and numerous other crafts. In fourth grade, music became her main form of self-expression when she began playing the violin. In fifth grade Mary switched to flute and continued with that through the sixth grade. In seventh grade Mary switched to oboe and continued with that through her senior year. She credits music and art with helping her get through school.

During her junior year of high school Mary made enough money selling candy to be able to participate in an exchange program to Mexico. She lived with the Mijangos in Mexico City for two months during the summer of 1972. This experience instilled a love of art, architecture and travel.

Mary attended Eastern Michigan University for one year after her High School graduation. She transferred to Western Michigan University for her second through fourth years and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Photography in 1977.

In 1980 Mary moved to Houston, Texas where she learned that living in Texas was not for her.

In 1982 she packed her bags and moved to Mountain View, California with what fit in her car. Her first employer was Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. She continued to work there until she was lured into the sexy, lucrative, high tech world of Silicon Valley taking a job at National Semiconductor. While playing for their tennis team she was matched up with Samuel Medrano whom she married at the Mariposa Courthouse in Mariposa, California in 1986.

After a succession of high tech jobs, Mary decided she had her fill of high tech and went back to school to earn a degree in Graphic Design and Visual Communications from the University of California Santa Cruz.

In 2000 Mary began taking online classes in painting on fabric. This intrigued her so much she began painting on stretched canvas. In 2001 she decided to continue on with teaching herself to paint and leave the corporate world entirely. She gave herself her first art show in 2002 at her home.

From 2002 until now, Mary's work has been shown in the United States and Italy. She has had solo shows at John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis, CA, Gallery Blu in Santa Clara, CA, Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, CA, twice at Ameriprise Financial in San José, CA and Bank of America in Sunnyvale, CA. She has participated in numerous group shows, and has won several awards.

She is currently associated with John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis, CA and paints daily in her studio at 818 Nevada Avenue in San Jose, California.

She lives happily with her husband, Sam and their feral kitty, Reina who turned 8 this year.