A sixth generation Californian, MaryJane Etchegaray-Szalan has been a bay area resident since 1958 when her parents were transferred to Travis AFB and moved to Vallejo. She found a job with Armco Steel in Berkeley, commuting by bus prior to freeways. She joined Mira Theater Guild for creative fulfillment, met her husband there, and retired to start a family. When the children started school, she returned to drawing and painting, a hobby she had left behind in her youth, only to put it aside when she re-entered the work force with the Vallejo Police Department. While with the PD a detective convinced her to use her ability to assist him in a case. She learned forensic art, crime scene drawing, criminal sketching by victim description and even began a tradition of drawing caricatures, lampooning retiring officers.

Although drawing since kindergarten, MaryJane is largely self-taught. She took life-drawing and oil painting classes while raising her family, but no further opportunities for self-expression presented themselves until retirement. With newfound freedom to exercise her creative energy, she has taken advantage of Solano College art courses, exploring various media and disciplines of the art world. She has also taken advantage of this freedom by exploring various cities and countries. Trying them on for size, so to speak, until recently settling in the bayside city of Benicia.

Of my relationship with art, I have to say, I was never satisfied with my work until I learned some basic rules to follow and then I found I was happiest breaking them. I love to experiment and stretch the boundaries of every medium I work with. I find that often times a piece will take on a life of it’s own, dictating what it wants to be. Once I am sure what that piece wants to be, I apply the rules to achieve that end, but not always. My art has filled many purposes throughout my life. As a small child, it filled the need to express my view of the world about me. As a young girl, it was a haven from unpleasantness. As a teenager, it was a means to safely vent anger. As a young woman I attempted to study art in earnest but found it became an escape from the cares and responsibilities of married life and parenthood. So, I put my brushes away. As a single parent, it was work related and a welcome additional income. As a mature woman I am again free to express my view of the world about me. It is a much broader world now full of change and wonder and joy and chaos. I hope to capture that view in as many ways and in as many mediums as I possibly can.