About Mari AnnE
 

Mari Anne Figgins was born in Pontiac, Michigan in 1947. From a young age she was surrounded by creative influences. Her father Richard was an industrial designer, and her mother Jane's favorite hobby was painting. She spent many summers as a child in art classes at the Cranbook School of Design in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In the third grade, she had one of her oil paintings chosen to be in a traveling art show, thus began Mari Anne's art career. 

Although Mari Anne enjoyed art classes throughout school, she did not plan on being an artist. When her father told her that a red dress did not go with her hair coloring she decided right then and there she did not want to be an artist. In her eyes, artists were too critical and picky about design, color and layout. 

After high school, Mari Anne attended Vernon Court Jr. College in Newport, RI. She needed an additional extra curricular class her first year and decided to take an oil painting class. The instructor told her that she had "a good feeling for color," and this comment changed the course of her studies. She decided to pursue a degree in Art. She transferred to Western Michigan University and completed a degree in art education and also received her degree in elementary education in 1972. 

Mari Anne spent the next several years teaching art and elementary education in Michigan, Utah and Washington State. She didn't touch her paints during this time. Then she went to her first Western Art Show in Spokane, Washington, where she saw an artist's work that inspired her to pick up the brushes again. She signed up for lessons in her weakest medium, watercolor. She struggled with her watercolors for about a year, and then suddenly things started to click. Since she was staying home with her daughter, she started painting all the time. Soon she started doing more art shows and exhibiting in additional galleries, which meant she needed to stop teaching and concentrate on her work. 

Mari Anne's subjects range from animals, children, front porches, barns, boats and flowers to whimsical holiday scenes. She has been the featured artist for the St. Luke’s Rehabilitation hospital in Spokane for 17 years, painting their annual fundraiser poster. Also, she has twice painted the image for the Ronald McDonald's House polo classic fundraiser. 

In addition to her professional art career, Mari Anne is also a certified veterinary assistant for large and small animals. She is a certified ski instructor and coordinated an adaptive ski program at Mt. Spokane where she worked with physically challenged children and adults, assisting them to ski. She has two grown daughters, one living in Idaho and the other in Washington. Mari Anne currently resides in Boise, Idaho.