About Mary Hoffman

Mary is currently a business consultant specializing in sustainable and green business startups. She co-founded and served as executive director of Adams State University’s Community Partnerships: Center for Rural Sustainability Solutions in south-central Colorado.

Mary worked as an economist for the U.S. Department of Labor in San Francisco, California and Denver, Colorado. In 2017, Mary was chosen as a Creative Community Fellow with the National Art Strategies, headquartered in Washington D.C. Through her leadership, she has utilized art for clean economic development, education and community organizing activities. She became a member of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps program in Chicago 2013. In 2016, she served as a mentor for the international Climate Reality Denver Conference. Mary has been involved in many other environmental projects such as S.E.E.D. (Sustainable Environmental Economic Development) Park, International; a zero-waste business park where each business utilizes another’s by-product in order to achieve zero waste, lower costs and create sustainable jobs. Mary was awarded 2015 William Funk Award for “Building Stronger Communities” by the Colorado Non-Profit Association for her work in the San Luis Valley.

Mary at Gorge rim

Upcycle Artist Statement

My passion is to explore discarded material trends and re-purpose discarded material into utilitarian articles or art forms. I do this to raise awareness of the impact of discarded material on our environment and to encourage reuse of material. One of my primary influencers is Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist who worked with “pickers” laboring in landfills to recover material for re-purposing. He transformed trash into beautiful portraits of people struggling to make a living.

I’ve worked as an economist for the federal government, business consultant and a community organizer at a liberal arts college. In all these roles, I’ve kept the environmental impacts of my work front and center.

Curriculum Vitae

Environmental and Community Organizing Training

  • Colorado Change Leaders Institute Mentor April 2017
  • University of Vermont; Professional Certification in Sustainability June 2017
  • National Arts Strategies, Creative Community Fellowship; Crowd Funding Training 2016
  • Climate Leadership Corps, Chicago, IL, International Climate Leadership Training, 2015
  • Permaculture Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Certification program 2014

Selected Exhibit/Gallery History

  • “Artes Descartes” Juried Exhibit, Taos, New Mexico, September 26 through Oct 3, 2020
  • “The Taos Center for the Arts’ Self Portrait Exhibition” Encore Gallery-juried exhibit, Taos, New Mexico, January 7th to March 4, 2019
  • “Re-Imagine Exhibit” Evergreen, Colorado Center for the Arts-juried exhibit, Summer 2019
  • “Seconds” John Dunn Shops, Taos, New Mexico 2016 to present
  • “Lightheaded,” The Florida CraftArt Gallery, St. Petersburg, Florida-juried exhibit; sold out
  • “EARTH”, Friends of the Museum, Walsenburg, Colorado; April 2017
  • “Reinvent Art: ReIMAGINE; RePURPOSE; ReNEW”, SPACe Spanish Peaks Arts Council, La Veta, Colorado. 2016
  • Adams State University, Employee Exhibit, juried and curated by ASU graduate students, Alamosa, Colorado; sold out Nov-Dec 2015
  • “Artes Descartes” Annual Juried Exhibit September 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Taos, New Mexico; strong sales and acknowledgement history
  • “Aspen Eco Art Fest”, Curated by The Red Brick Center for the Arts, Aspen, Colorado, April 5th through April 25th, 2010

Awards/Recognition

  • Awarded Honorary Mention St. Petersburg Florida (20 international artists total), February-March 2018
  • Awarded first place in Reinvent Art Exhibit, SPACe Spanish Peaks Arts Council 2016
  • Featured upcycle artist in The Rio Grande Sun, September 2015
  • Colorado’s William Funk Award for Building Stronger Communities 2015