ABOUT MARY

Born in Greece July 29, 1962, Mary Kalabokis along with her parents and 2 older brothers, migrated to the United States at the age of 7. Mary grew up in Carbondale, Illinois, appreciating the best of both countries. Growing up in a hard working family of restaurateurs and business people, and being the youngest child in her family by several years. Growing up she split her time between school, work, play and art. (And she continues to do so today. As a child she spent many enjoyable hours drawing. She jokes that perhaps her love of color came way back when her parents could not afford the 64 box of crayons.

Whatever the reason, color is the central focal point of all her work. She believes we all need to “Live Life in Color”.

She grew up drawing, taking art classes, painting murals at school and studying photography for a bit. In the end she ended up studying art and fashion design, receiving her masters from Southern Illinois University.

Upon graduation she and her now husband, Taki Kalabokis moved to Los Angeles where Mary worked in the fashion industry. While she loved the fabrics, the colors, the design, she soon tired of the LA traffic and headed north to Portland, Oregon. Inspired by the then Mayor E. BUD Clark’s photograph “Expose Yourself to Art” she felt this would be a great city to live in. With little fashion work available, Mary settled into a successful real estate career. As she grew her real estate portfolio she continued to paint and take art classes, always trying to keep in touch with her creative side and growing her art portfolio. She fell in love with acrylics, and continues to work with them today. She revears and has been truly inspired by artists like Gerhard Richter, Robert Rauschenberg and Dale Chihuly,

After the birth of their two children Mary and Taki needed more sunshine, warm weather and a proximity to water. With dreams of sailboats and sunshine they picked up and moved cross country to sunny Cape Coral, FL which boasts over 400 miles of canals. Mary found living on the water inspiring to her art and has made water a central part of many of her artworks.

Currently Mary enjoys living with her husband, children and dog while painting larger and larger. Her philosophy in life as in art, is that life is to short to live without color. Mary lives as she paints. Life is meant to be full of the colors we love. We must all follow our dreams and live the life we were meant to live.

Her art is meant to sparks happiness, motivation, and create a positive energy for all to enjoy. Mary believes that we all need to find what celebrates and validates all that we are.