Untitled - The Nativity

Painter Mary Parris was born February 11, 1914 in Edmonton, Alberta and lived there until her death in 1988. Parris became an active member of the Edmonton Sketch Club in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and furthered her art education at the Extension Department at the University of Alberta. She attended a workshop at the prestigious Banff School of Fine Arts (today The Banff Centre) and also studied at Emma Lake (Saskatchewan) in 1959 with John Ferren, and at the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1962 and 1972. She was an active contributor to the Edmonton art scene. She was a member of the Edmonton Art Club and the Alberta Society of Artists. Mary Parris was also one of the founding members of the Focus Gallery, which was the first artist co-op gallery in Canada.