Marie Spaeder Haas

Marie has been painting and drawing from her earliest days growing up in Erie, Pennsylvania.   After many years of teaching  high school biology while doing her art "on the side," she turned her attention to serious studio work in 1984.  She soon established herself as an avid watercolorist in northwest Pennsylvania where she ran her own Sycamore Gallery and conducted watercolor and drawing classes.  Marie currently works out of her studios near the Blue Ridge Mountains in Ocoee, Tennessee and near the Gulf beaches of Bradenton, Florida, as well as on her travels throughout North America.  "Painting and drawing," says the artist, "are my ways of interacting with my environment, whether that is a mountain peak in Alaska or an old barn in Tennessee, a fiddler or a concert violinist, a flower in my backyard or a dancer on the streets of Mexico.  When I paint or draw something, I experience it in a way different from any other.  It is my way of getting to know my surroundings."

Marie's work is found in private and corporate collections throughout the United States.  She is represented currently by Kada Art Gallery in Erie, PA and the Tellico Arts Center in Tellico Plains, TN.  In the winter months, her work may be seen in exhibits at the Art Center Manatee in Bradenton, FL.