Mari French was born in Manchester in 1957. Always interested in art, she studied Art and Design at Stockport College as a mature student, followed by a 20 year career in graphic design. In 1995 she moved to the Isle of Skye where she lived for 15 years developing and exhibiting her increasingly abstract landscapes. She now lives in Norfolk, working as a full-time artist, from her studio on a former 1930s RAF airbase.

Mari has exhibited widely in both group and solo shows. Her work has been annually selected for the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) at the Mall Galleries, London, since 2016, and in 2022 she was elected an RI member. She was a finalist in the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition in 2014, and a finalist in Artist & Illustrator Magazine ‘Artist of the Year’ 2016, both at the Mall Galleries. Her work is held in private collections worldwide.



SELECTED EXHIBITING HISTORY:

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Mall Galleries, 2016-2023.

Spring Gallery, Cheltenham, ‘Wintertide’ with Little Buckland Gallery, 2023

The Bircham Gallery, Holt, North Norfolk, ‘New Faces’ and Summer Exhibition, 2023.

Little Buckland Gallery, Broadway, Worcestershire, group exhibitions, 2021-2023.

Gallery East, Woodbridge, Suffolk, duo & group exhibitions, 2019-2022.

Babylon Arts, Ely, Cambridgeshire, ‘No Frost at Night’, commissioned group exhibition, 2021.

Royal Watercolour Society, Contemporary Watercolours, Bankside Gallery, 2018/2019. 

Grapevine Contemporary, Burnham Market, Norfolk, solo & group exhibitions, 2009-2019. 

Gallery Different, London, group exhibition (with Sheridan Russell), 2018/2022.

Sheridan Russell Gallery, Fresh and Affordable Art Fairs, 2014-2017.

Cricket Fine Art, Summer exhibition, Chelsea, London, 2017.

Thompsons Gallery, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, mixed exhibitions, 2013-2017.

Artists & Illustrators Artist of the Year, Finalist, Mall Galleries, 2016.

Cley Contemporary 16, North Norfolk Exhibition Project, 2016.

The Sutton Gallery, Edinburgh, group exhibition, 2015.

Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, finalist, Mall Galleries, 2014.

Highgate Contemporary, London, 'Inside Out', joint exhibition, 2012. 

Greyfriars Art Space, King’s Lynn, solo exhibitions, 2012-2014. 

Inchmore Gallery, Inverness, solo & group exhibitions, 2006/2007. 

An Tuireann Art Gallery, Isle of Skye, group exhibitions, 2005/2006.

SELECTED PRESS & PUBLICATIONS:

EAVA zine ‘Pilgrimages’, @eavazine, June 2021.

Artists and Illustrators magazine, Fresh Paint feature, September 2020.

‘The Woven Tale Press' Literature & Fine Art Magazine, featured artist, October, 2019.

'Painting clouds and skies in oils', guest artist, Mo Teeuw, Crowood Press 2017.

The Artist Magazine, featured artist, July 2016.

'Blyth Spirit', Alan Marshall, Mascot Media 2014.

KL magazine, featured artist, 2014.

'How artists see East Anglian Places', Green Pebble 2010.