Mary Anne Holliday grew up in England. While studying for a degree in Graphic Design at the University of Reading, she worked on stage with a performing group that evolved out of the art department. Upon graduation she moved to the United States and began to seriously study voice and dance. Only after a twelve year stage career did she return to the visual arts. She worked on her Master's degree in Art Education at Florida International University while teaching art in the Dade County school system. In 1991 she moved to Massachusetts for a school for her eight year old daughter and for the next six years she taught art at museum schools, independent art programs and in her own studio.

It was at this time that she began working seriously as a visual artist. She became a member of the Saxonville Artist's Group and exhibited with them for several years. She moved to New York City in 2000 where she continues to paint and teaches art at an independent middle school on the Upper West side of Manhattan.

My paintings are about space. I choose the subjects of my paintings because they allow me to enter a place where I can experience the underlying beauty and serenity of this planet. I work in oil paint in the old masters' technique. After the drawing, I start with an under painting and then build up the layers of paint. The different areas of my paintings have anywhere from two to eight layers. This is how I achieve the depth that I want in the represented space. I work from photographs and sketches of actual places to produce the painting. Often I combine different places. For example, I might use a mountain range from one location and combine it with an architectural setting from another place.