Mary Kolada Scott Biography

Like my poems, my paintings and linocuts focus on small, intimate glimpses of ordinary life — a cluster of cherries or a cottage encountered around the corner — but they are rich in color and expression and appreciation for the grace of everyday surroundings.

— Mary Kolada Scott, artist and poet

About the artist

Mary Kolada Scott has lived in Ventura 15 years and is editorial operations manager for the Ventura County Star. In her free time, she paints watercolors and does block printmaking, specifically linocuts.

She always had wanted to study art but was sidetracked when a junior high school art class was full and she took creative writing instead. Her teacher got her first poem published, and she pursued the language arts for decades, putting the visual arts on hold until a few years ago.

Mary is a member of the Buenaventura Art Association and served as treasurer of the California Gold Coast Watercolor Society. She has produced two limited-edition giclée prints, Looking for Art and Sacred Heart Church. In 2007, she participated with other women artists in a show of altered fashion dolls, Barbed Art, and she shows her work locally.

She has studied with Phyllis Doyon and Judy Klement and in workshops with Al Setton, Tom Fong, Ted Nuttall and Hiroko Yoshimoto.

Mary wrote a weekly poetry column for the Ventura County Star for four years. Her articles, poems, photographs and artwork have been published in hundreds of newspapers, magazines and books. Recent publications include poems in the anthologies Proposing on the Brooklyn Bridge, The Art of Bicycling, Forever in Love and Miracles of Motherhood.

In both writing and art, Mary draws inspiration from simple images surrounding her, from cherries in a bowl on her table to charming houses she passes on walks. She appreciates the power of objects to impart significance to the observer. She is exploring more complex relationships by branching out into figurative painting and portraits.

Her husband, Don Scott, provides support and computer/photography help.