Mary Anne Kinane has been an artist and art educator for 30+ years in various situations: Community Education-adults & children, Artist-in-Residence and After-School Programs in schools, Private Studio and the mainstream charter & public school systems. She is a certified Art Educator K-12 through the state of Minnesota. She is known to many for her pen & ink drawings of houses and architectural structures, and watercolors and acrylics of gardens. She has written children’s plays, short stories, and poetry. Mary Anne likes to combine the art disciplines: theater, music, literary pieces and visual arts. She has worked with theatrical props, puppetry, murals, ash clay, sculpture, and masks.

Although Mary Anne was born and raised in and around Chicago, Illinois, she came to live in Moorhead and East Grand Forks, Minnesota during the 70s and 80s. She went to school at St. Ambrose College, (Iowa) Moorhead State University, and St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.  She raised her family partially in East Grand Forks and the Twin Cities. The family moved to the Twin Cities in 1988. She has been to shows around the United States-including Renaissance Fairs, the Minnesota State Fair, and the New England shows. At the same time, Mary Anne owned an open studio and shop at Bandana Square in St. Paul, Minnesota until 1999. She now operates a private studio and teaches art through various programs or an independent contract. The artwork is available through the internet or independent galleries.

During the last few years, Ms. Kinane has taken a new direction in the arts. She is not participating in art festivals because of an auto accident in 2003. Even though she has recovered from many of the injuries, she will not be able to lift heavy objects because there is nerve damage to her right side. She has relearned and retrained the right fingers to use the computer, and to paint, draw, and make calligraphy. Mary Anne worked as an artist at Friendship Academy before and after the accident. She will continue to make art because that is her passion. Nature, gardens, and architecture
(Classical Art and Impressionism) are things that inspire her.