Mary Virginia grew up in Shreveport, where her mother, Jerry Wray, was a painter and community arts activist who earned her BFA at Newcomb College (now Tulane). Inspired by her mother’s legacy, Mary Virginia also attended Newcomb, before transferring to Hunter College in Manhattan to immerse herself in the city’s renowned museums. She earned her MFA at the University of Alabama and taught for a time before living in Rochester, NY, where she exhibited with a couple of galleries. She returned to Shreveport in 1985 and has since enjoyed working with acrylics and watercolors in an abstract, process-oriented style. Her work is deeply influenced by her love of landscape, color, and abstract expressionist art.