Mary Beth Schmidt Fogarty

Artist Biography

I’m striving to create an architecture for the human spirit. Mary Beth Schmidt Fogarty grew up on a farm near Plattsmouth, Nebraska, but left the state to study art in California and Missouri in the 1960s. She returned to Nebraska with a new understanding of color theory and the persistence required to create meaningful and expressive art. After earning her master’s degree and receiving overwhelming critical support throughout Nebraska, she served in teaching positions at Creighton University, Iowa Western Community College, Metropolitan Community College, and Peru State College. In 1983, she was honored with the fifth annual Governor’s Arts Award and commissioned to create the Niobrara Paper Constructionseries. Inspired by the geological formations around the Niobrara River, these paper collages emphasize sculptural form and differences in organic textures as a way of comparing the appearance and aging of the Earth’s surface to the human experience.