Mary Coleman is a Portland-born artist and poet whose work bridges the disciplines of visual art and the medical history. Raised in an artistic family, she originally aspired to become an epidemiologist before realizing that her true calling lay in painting. Her art practice reflects both passions, exploring medical history, particularly the evolution of infectious disease, through a contemporary, humanistic lens.
In 2006, Coleman relocated to New Zealand, where she lived for 11 years. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland and later completed a Master of Art and Design at Auckland University of Technology in 2016.
During her years abroad, she volunteered at the Northland Medical Museum, collaborating with retired medical professionals and drawing inspiration from historical archives. This experience profoundly shaped her artistic inquiry, leading her to curate several exhibitions that merged science, history, and visual storytelling.
Since returning to Portland in 2017, Coleman has continued to paint full time while expanding her creative practice into poetry. Her written work serves as a natural extension of her visual art. Her poems have appeared in several international literary quarterlies, and she is currently developing her first illustrated poetry collection.
The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman 