Local Artist Open House- Mary Lou Oslund
Artist Bio: Mary Lou Oslund
Mary Lou is an award-winning professional photographer & artist who is known for
her artwork in different mediums which include photographic murals, fused glass,
wood burning & carving, & fabric arts. Mary Lou is inspired by birds of all types,
wildlife, beautiful scenery & whatever is happening in the world around her at
home & when she travels.
Mary Lou received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kansas City Art Institute
& her Masters degree from Colorado State University. She is also a certified
Professional Photographer & has both her Craftsman & Masters degrees from
Professional Photographers of America. She also received the “National Award” from
Professional Photographers of America for teaching & inspiring young people in how
important it is to look through the camera’s viewfinder at the world they live in &
show their point of view & creativity.
Her professional photography career has spanned 55 years & included working for
big corporations doing commercial photography, owning her own photography studio
known as Oslund’s Creative Eye Studio which she still operates here in Teton Valley &
teaching Photography & Technology Education in Colorado & Idaho high schools for
22 years.
Mary Lou’s fabric art pieces started from her love of sewing. She started designing
& sewing her own clothing when she was in high school. About 18 years ago, she
created a dye sublimation process that allowed her to put her images of Teton &
Yellowstone scenes & wildlife images into fabric which lead her to create potholders,
kitchen mitts, aprons & totes which she sold for 12 years at the Driggs Farmer’s
Market.
She branched out about 20 years ago into fused glass & has never looked back.
Mary Lou finds glass fusing to be relaxing & can spend endless hours working on her
own unique designs. She also teaches fused glass in the winter months in Mesa AZ.
Her latest medium is wood burning & wood carving which has given her a new
direction of creativity. She says wood burning is similar to pen & ink in many ways
but is done with various heated pen points on slabs of wood. She has only been
doing this medium for about a year & a half. She has taught herself various wood-burning techniques & will often combine various mediums into a finished art piece.
She received third place & two honorable mention ribbons on the intermediate
level at the Arizona State Woodcarvers convention this spring in her first
competition.
Mary Lou’s latest achievement was having one of her wood burning & acrylic art
pieces selected for the Teton Regional Land Trust Sandhill Crane Festival in
September. The design has been on posters, banners & various clothing items around
town this summer. She had entered the poster competition 6 times before having
her design selected & is really honored to be part of the festival this year.
Mary Lou will have her multi media artwork called “In the Presence of Mother
Earth” on display at the Victor City Hall Gallery from Oct 8, 2024 to Jan 7, 2025.