Mary Heather Fakoury was born and raised in Fauquier County, Virginia. She had a strong interest in art starting as a young child and has continued to pursue that passion throughout the years. As a child, she took years of private art lessons with local artist Patty Rice. It was through Patty that she had the opportunity to display a few pieces of artwork at a local art gallery in Old Town Manassas.
After graduating from Kettle Run High School in 2011 she went on to study Studio Art at James Madison University, and graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in photography. During her time at JMU she was able to explore many artistic mediums and processes such as screen printing, painting, photography, and ceramics. These classes have influenced her artistic style through the following years.
Mary Heather’s art is highly influenced by nature, especially mushrooms, and she loves to incorporate that into her artwork, whether it’s obvious or subtly hidden. Though she is trained in realistic painting and drawing, she has learned to focus on more abstract elements in her work. She considers herself to have a whimsical, illustrative style and tries to convey a sense of altered reality in most of her work.
“Artists pull elements from the world around them as inspiration, but it’s the way each one processes it and then expresses it visually that makes it unique and interesting. My art is a compilation of all the things I see in my world. I process it and I reimage it in a way that makes anyone, including myself, stop and think about reality in a different way.” When not painting and drawing, Mary Heather works at McClanahan’s Camera in Warrenton, where she helps others bring their images to the best form for presentation.