Mary Heilmann

American painter and visual artist (b. January 1940, San Francisco, California); lives and works in New York City. Mary Heilmann grew up in Los Angeles and San Francisco, discovering Beat poetry in high school in the late 1950s. She studied at The University Of California At Santa Barbara between 1959 and 62, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in literature. Heilmann enrolled in San Francisco State College in 1963, hoping to earn an assistant faculty position. Mary soon became interested in ceramics and dropped SFSC to pursue her Master's studies in ceramics and sculpture at University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1967. In 1968, Mary Heilmann moved to New York. She eagerly promoted her sculptures but kept being rejected by various galleries and group exhibitions. After a prominent Anti-Illusion show at the Whitney Museum Of American Art in '69 denied her submission, Mary decided to give up sculpture altogether and switched to painting.