Image courtesy of Alexa Mazzarello
I am a mixed-media artist shaped by the places and people who have held me. Born in Toronto, I now create in Burlington on the Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, where the landscape quietly informs my work.
My practice grows from curiosity and the daily balance of being both artist and parent. Children—my own and the ones I teach—remind me that creativity thrives on trust, play, and the freedom to begin again. Their way of making teaches me that learning is never linear; that skill and uncertainty can sit together, quietly breathing.
In the studio, I follow whatever materials feel alive. I move between portraiture, landscape, and abstraction, working with drawing and painting and found or up-cycled objects. Lately I’m drawn to slower, more meditative practices like collage, zine-making, drawing, embroidery, and small sculptural forms.
Teaching is part of my art. I try to offer spaces where students can explore without rush or apology, and where reflection is as important as making. I believe art helps us notice ourselves and one another more deeply.
Community is both a grounding and an aspiration for me. Collaboration, care, and interdependence shape the way I work and the way I hope to move through the world. I trust that art can deepen conversations, nourish relationships, and help us imagine kinder, more connected futures.
Through reading and writing, I look closely at the textures of material culture, the everyday intimacies of wellbeing, and the ways creativity, care, and labour intertwine in ordinary life.
I hold a BFA from OCAD University, a BA in English Literature from York University, am an organizing member of the Elizabeth Gardens Creative Collective (Burlington) and an Artist-in-Residence at the Art Gallery of Burlington.
Instagram @mary-annalberga