CV
BIOGRAPHY
1964 Born in Iowa City, IA
Lives and works in Cedar Rapids, IA
EDUCATION
1992 Professional Development, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
1991 M.F.A., The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
1988 B.F.A., The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Unmoored, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2022
The Ancient Healing Properties of Clay, Paper, Plastic, and Wood, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
Mapping the Intangible, Iowa Ceramics Center, Cedar Rapids, IA, curator Karin Rutkin
2021
Dance Party, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
Beauty Seeker II, Project Art, University of Iowa Hospital, Iowa City, IA
Happy Zone, Art Center Burlington, Burlington, IA
2020
Mission Happiness, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2020 Mary Zeran: 10 Years, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
2019
Keeping the Bubble Happy, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2018
Loud and Proud, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
Beauty Seeker, Gilded Pear Pop Up Gallery, US Bank, Iowa City, IA 2017 A Rainbow Colored Dream, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2017
Lumpy Swoosh, Higher Art Gallery, Traverse City, MI
2016
KACHOW!, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2015
Full Throttle Color, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2014
La Tierra de Mi Corazón, New Work by Mary Zeran, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
JUICY! Black Hawk College, Moline, IL
Living With Forces of Nature: All Things Beautiful, Center for Faith and Life, Luther College, Decorah, IA
2013
Mary Zeran: Made In Many Different Ways, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2012
Mary Zeran Art Extravaganza, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
Small Branch, Maquoketa Arts Experience, Maquoketa, IA
TWO AND THREE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024
BOLD: Sharon Burns Knutson, Kimberlee Rocca, Mary Zeran, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA, three person show.
2014
Spaces We Inhabit: Sculptures and Paintings by Alicia Forestall-Boehm, Emily Rutledge and Mary Zeran, Hairpin Arts Center, Logan Square, Chicago, IL, three person exhibit
2014-2011
Drips and Daubs: Painters Zeran and Tollefson Explore Nature, Art Guild of Burlington, Burlington, IA, Maquoketa Art Experience, Maquoketa, IA, Lowe Art Center, Marion, IA, Simpson College, Indianola, IA
2013
Three Person Exhibit, Art in the Airport, Quad City Airport, Rock Island, IL
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Dreamscapes and Inner Worlds!, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA, juror Joe Diggs, April 11 - June 29, 2025
2024
Beyond the Object: Women Working in Abstraction, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA curator Julia Jesse
Depth: Layers in Translation, Taylor Art Gallery - Principal Financial, Des Moines, IA, curator Lauren Tucci
2024 Center for Contemporary Arts Nation Exhibition, Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX, juror Adela Andea,
Volume 7, Memory of the Existing and the Imaginary, Contemporary Art Chronicle, San Francisco, San Miguel De Allende, MEX, Barcelona, ES
Stronger Together, Women UNITED ART MOVEMENT, Online, Juror Mona Leach, Creative Director of Women UNITED ART MOVEMENT
TRAHC's 36th Annual Juried Exhibition, Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council, Texarkana, TX, juror Trina Harlow, Director of Undergraduate Studies in Art Education at the University of North Texas College of Visual Art and Design
Converge!, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, curator Dr. Brittany Webb, the Evelyn and Will Kaplan Curator of Twentieth Century Art and the John Rhoden Collection at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Pots and Prints, Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery, The University of Texas Permian Basin, Odessa, TX, juror Alex Gregory, Curator of Art for the Amarillo Museum of Art (AMoA)
Strictly Abstract, O’Hanlon Center, Mill Valley, CA, curator Anthony Meier
Grinding, Kinhart Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2023
Fly Over Focus, Queen City Clay, Norwood, OH
By Design: Group Show, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2021
Abstract Ideas: Abstract Art from the Collection, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA, curator Kate Kunau
2019
Up All Night, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA, curator Kate Kunau
DUMA Biennial, Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, IA, curator Sarah Humphreville, Senior Curatorial Assistant at Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Into the Blue, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA, curator Kate Kunau
2018
Beyond the Prairie: Midwestern Art from the Collection, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA, curator Kate Kunau
2016
Funkytown, Urbano, Berkely, CA, curator Kimberly Rowe, 17 person exhibition
Summer Invitational, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, twenty person exhibit
2015
The Iowa Artists Purchase Exhibition, EMC , Des Moines, IA, seven person exhibit
Pushed, Pulled, Shaped: Work that Reflects the Artists Spirit and Environment, Best Chicago Properties, Chicago, IL, three person exhibit
Midwest Summer: Light and Warmth, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA, curator Kate Kunau
2013
Contemporary Expressionism-The Creative Spirit, The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild, San Diego, CA, curator Derrick Cartwright
Some Assembly Required: Collage and Assemblage, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA, curator Sean Ulmer
2012
Lure of the Local, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA, curator Sean Ulmer
2011
What to Dip, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS AND AWARDS
US Cellular Center, 2% for the Arts, Cedar Rapids, IA
Canal One, Boston, MA
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
EMC, one of 7 artists selected for 2015 Sixth Biennial Art EMC Program, Des Moines, IA First Bancorp, Southern Pines, NC
Grafix Corporate Collection, Cleveland, OH Grant Thorton, Chicago, IL
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Human Services Building, Cedar Rapids, IA Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, IA Kirkwood Community College, Coralville, IA McCarter & English in Boston.
Manion, Gaynor & Manning, Miami, FL Marion Arts Council, Marion, IA
Newton Wellesley Hospital, Newton, MA People's United, Boston, MA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Raining Rose Corporate Collection, Cedar Rapids, IA
Reliant Medical Group, Westborough, MA
School of Art and Art History, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA Skogman
The Fallon Companies, Boston, MA
The University of Iowa Hospitals, The University of Iowa, Iowa City IA Southeast Iowa Community College, West Burlington, IA
Solomon McCown, Boston, MA
United Fire Group, Cedar Rapids, IA
United Fire Group, Los Angeles, CA
West Side Transport, Cedar Rapids, IA
Xilio Therapeutics, Waltham, MA
LECTURES
2020 ArtBites Gallery Talk, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
2018 Gallery Talk, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2016 Gallery Talk, Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2015 Gallery Talk, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA2014 Gallery Talk, Farnham Gallery, Simpson College, Indianola, IA
2013 Artist Talk, Marvin Cone Club, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
2012 Gallery Talk, Maquoketa Arts Experience, Maquoketa, IA
2012 Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre Artist in Residence
2012 Gallery Talk, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
2012 Gallery Talk, Art Bites, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
VISITING ARTIST
2013 Visiting Artist, Clinton Community College, Clinton, IA
2010 Visiting Artist, Creative Connections, Cedar Rapids Museums of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
RESIDENCIES, COOPERATIVE GALLERIES, AND TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1997 Co-founding Member, Soil, Seattle, WA
1992 Artist in Residence, Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, Portland, OR
1990-1991 Teaching Assistant, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, drawing
1989 Teaching Assistant, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, metalworking
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2025
IX, Women United Art Magazine, Winter 2025
2024
Kinheart Studio Welcoming Space for Artist in CR, Diana Nollen, The Gazette, May 20,
2022
The Ancient Healing Properties of Clay, Paper, Plastic, and Wood, Dennis Green, Jazz 88.3 KCCK Culture Crawl, Nov 27, 2022
2021
Dance Party, Dennis Green, Jazz 88.3 KCCK Culture Crawl, Dec 4, 2021
2020
Mary Zeran Opens First Solo Show at Cedar Rapids, The Gazette, Sept 10, 2020
2018
Advise and Select, Ann Landi, Vasari21, July 29, 2018
Art and Life with Mary Zeran, Boston Voyager, July 2018
Boston City Guide, The Boston Arts & Culture Weekly Review, July 30, 2018
Really Flat Sculptures, Dennis Green, Jazz 88.3 KCCK Culture Crawl, Dec 5, 2018
2016
Eastern Iowa Health Center Holds Grand Opening Celebration, by Samantha Myers, 2016 Eastern Iowa Health Center Undergoes Renovation, by KCRG-TV9, Oct 13, 2016
Assembling An Artful Home, Katie Mills Giorgio, The Gazette, April 24, 2016
2015
Full Throttle Color, Culture Crawl, Cedar Rapids, IA, December 3, 2015
Full Throttle Color, Hoopla, Cedar Rapids, IA, December 3, 2015
Midwest Summer: Light and Warmth, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, July 21, 2015
2014
Artist Mary Zeran Set to Unveil Latest Collage, RCreader, Quad City, IA, November 19, 2014 2014 Mary Zeran at Luther College, Christopher Byrne, Kolaj Magazine, Montreal, Canada, April 22, 2014
All Things Beautiful: Mixed Media Collages by Mary Zeran on display April 2 - May 25, Decorah Newspapers, Decorah, IA, April 1, 2014
The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art-Some Assembly Required Collage and Assemblage, The Daily Palette, Iowa City, IA, January 20, 2014
Farnham to Showcase Work of Dena Tollefson and Mary Zeran, Simpson College News Center, Indianola, IA, January 17, 2014
2013
Some Assembly Required At Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Kolaj Magazine, Montreal, Canada, October 19, 2013
2012
Paint the Music!, Operahhh! Newlsetter of the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Cedar Rapids,
IA, December 2012
Note-Worthy Art, Artist Mary Zeran ‘Paints the Music’ , Michael Bierne, Cedar Rapids NE
Life, Cedar Rapids, IA, December 2012
Painters Dena Tollefson Mary Zeran, Art Talks with Bruce Carter WVIK Augustana