Mary on Adventures: The Story Behind the Artist
Inspired by her love of the Mojave Desert, Mary Felker shares her adventures in nature through her art business, Mary on Adventures.
Inspiration and Mediums
Making art since she was little, Felker shared that she used to set up her Beanie Babies on the table and do still-life drawings of them. Then, as she grew older and explored the world around her more, nature became a big inspiration for her.
Soon her work started predominantly focusing on the beauty of the Mojave Desert and close to home here in Vegas. Using watercolors, she creates paintings of places like Red Rock Canyon and desert wildlife like cacti and bighorn sheep. She also perfectly captures the sheer beauty of the desert at night, incorporating the moon and stars in many of her designs, giving life to the night sky. Often, her art incorporates positive messages and affirmations as well.
“More recently, I’ve been seeking a lot of additional positive influences within my art, like topics relating to political issues or feminism,” she said. She’s also been practicing new art forms.
Mary’s designs are available as stickers, postcards, clothing, and other items.
Murals
Over the last couple of years, she started enlarging her art by painting murals. Felker’s murals bring color and life everywhere they appear, from walls around town to commissioned work inside local businesses and private companies.
Find some of her murals available for public viewing at the following locations:
- ‘I Am Magic’ -Imperial and Main Street in the Las Vegas Arts District;
- ‘Dream on Dreamer’ – Market in the Alley alleyway off of Fremont and 11th Street, across from Ferguson’s Downtown;
- Mural at CraftHaus Brewery & Taproom in Henderson.
One of Mary on Adventures’ biggest upcoming projects involves a mural she’s working on for Lowes over in Sunrise Manor off of Nellis and Carey.
“It’s an integration of Lowes in the Las Vegas community, and of me interpreting what the Las Vegas community is while incorporating our desert landscape,” she explained. In addition to this mural, she’s painting one for a local coffee truck as well.
Mary on Adventures – Special Projects
Felker recently brought a piece of the desert to Las Vegas through a collaborative art project commissioned by PlayStudios, a mobile game developer, to commemorate the launch of its latest app. Each of the five local creatives brought in for this project painted a bingo ball with their own artistic styles.
To view Felker’s bingo ball, visit the MGM Grand’s main lobby adjacent to the check-in counters.
Further expanding her artistic range, Felker revisited an art form she played with while studying to become an art teacher – 3-D sculptures.
“In college, I made a soft-sculpture unit of a VW Bus out of fabric with all of the details,” she said. “I always loved it and always wanted to incorporate it into my art now, so I started making 3-D cactuses.”
Utilizing a combination of sewing techniques, stuffed animal making, and painting, Felker started turning her watercolor paintings into eye-popping sculptures.
In addition to her sculptures, she also creates illustrations, takes occasional commissions, and sometimes even creates other “random” works of art.
“Anything that I can paint, I will paint it for you,” she said. “I even painted a chair once.”
From Teacher to Business Owner
Since starting her own art business, ‘Mary on Adventures,’ she’s blossomed in the Vegas art community over the years, making a name for herself. Before she started her business, Felker was taught art at a local high school for seven years.
“When my students worked on their art, I would work on mine as well,” she said. “I’d sit next to them and talk to them about it, like what I was making and who I was making it for.”
Felker explained that seeing her student’s excitement and encouragement for her to succeed with her art inspired her to consider opening her own art business.
“One year, I had a conversation with a student, and she asked me why I wasn’t making art full-time,” she said. “I told her how I love teaching, and I love making art, and that it’s scary to make the transition to self-employment.”
That student suggested that Felker save up money for a year so that she’d feel more comfortable trying it out.
“She told me that I can always go back to teaching, so I did that,” she said. “My students inspired me to keep going.”
The First Step
Starting out, Felker faced a few challenges, such as learning how she’d have to file her taxes or do the accounting for the business.
“I still struggle with those things,” she said. “Learning about the business marketing side, social media, and the art itself were super fun to learn about and grow into those new avenues.”
Once she grasped the necessary knowledge for how she wanted to form and operate her business, Felker was ready to take the next step.
Launching the Business
Opening up an Etsy shop in late 2015, Felker started selling original drawings and paintings of rock climbing art, inspired by her own experiences with rock climbing in Red Rock Canyon, as well as stickers and prints of those pieces. She then learned how to screenprint and expanded to selling shirts and hats.
“Sometimes, I also sell watercolor DIY kits for the holidays!” she added.
In 2016, she did a soft launch of selling her art in person, vending at a local rock climbing shop called Desert Rock Sports in Vegas. There she sold rock climbing-related shirts, hats, stickers, and postcards.
Expanding Mary on Adventures
Over the years and through all her adventures, Felker expanded both her reach and her style. With an original focus on watercolor artwork inspired by the Mojave Desert, she’s now continued her adventures beyond Nevada and made her way to new places in new states.
“That way, more people can relate to and celebrate Las Vegas and Nevada,” she said. She’s also started expanding her artistic reach into surrounding areas she visited and incorporating art showcasing the West Coast in general.
I’m from the Midwest,” she explained. “So whenever I think about the possibility of moving away from Vegas, it’d be the West Coast because I love the openness and the mountains.”
In 2018, Felker began vending her art at local events, starting with ones that let her come out for free to sell her merchandise.
“Market in the Alley was the first paid event that I vended at,” she said. She also started attending other well-known local events like the First Friday Festival.
At one point, Felker also sold her products at local West Elm furniture stores in Summerlin and Henderson.
Presently, you can find Mary on Adventures’ work at Local Oasis, a “cute and colorful boutique in the heart of the Las Vegas Arts District.” Her artwork was also featured at ReBar in July.
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Impacts of the Pandemic
Mental Health and Motivation
During the pandemic, Felker reported experiencing severe anxiety and even full-on panic attacks throughout the ordeal. She also experienced nerve damage in her hands sustained from stress during the pandemic, which limits her ability to work.
“I thought I was going to have to go back to teaching art, which I would have enjoyed, but it wasn’t where I saw myself going at that point,” she said. “I had dreams of traveling to different states to paint murals and attend more events, but that didn’t happen obviously with everything shut down.”
With events canceled and having to primarily sell her art online, Felker passed the time by creating art, especially COVID-related art.
“That gave me an appreciation for the things that were new and different, like concerts at home,” she said. “I initially thought, ‘here are all these things we would’ve never done or thought of.’ Drawing them and expressing them through a visual format allowed me to appreciate those things more.”
Despite having the inspiration to create, Felker felt challenged during the pandemic with finding the motivation to get those ideas out on paper.
“I love making my art and sharing it with the world, but I think that like everyone else, I’m still healing from the pandemic and the trauma of it. And that all affects things like motivation,” she explained.
While motivation has fluctuated, Felker remained very busy during the pandemic and even started a new leg of her journey.
Finding Light in the Dark: Creating Hey Maker Co.
Felker shared that she ended up starting another business to fill the open time and lack of opportunities she missed due to the pandemic. Expanding beyond her art business and further building community, Mary Felker joined forces with local jewelry artist Ashley Zabarte to create Hey Maker Co.
Located inside Ferguson’s Downtown, this business acts as an art collective, providing a space to feature local makers to host their items for a month.
“They also do an Instagram takeover for that month to learn how to introduce their brand on social media and get some exposure through our Instagram,” Felker said. The business’s mission is to connect creators with the community and help lift each other up.
Hey Maker Co. showcases products ranging from art prints and stickers to jewelry, sculptures, and more. Visit their website to shop for this month’s makers. In addition, artists and creatives looking to apply to be future featured makers, please fill out this form.
Present and Future Goals
Currently, Felker shared that one of her biggest goals is to get back into events, like First Friday and Market in the Alley. In working towards fulfilling this goal, she recently vended at the recent July and August First Friday Festivals.
Aside from attending events again, she wants to have more of her stickers bought wholesale and sold to shops and boutiques around the country.
Ideally, she also wants to get to a point where she’s doing at least one mural a month, which she said she feels is “reasonable and consistent.” However, due to the nerve damage in her hands, she’s trying not to push herself too hard just yet.
In the meantime, she’s focused on continuing to build her businesses and her brand. This includes releasing new lines of work, like a butterfly release she’s presently working on.
Moreover, one of Felker’s biggest goals involves working towards a place where she can hire people to work under her to help fulfill orders, push more art out there, and “make some big ass murals.”
“I just want to keep moving forward,” she said. “Forward movement is what I want to achieve and continue that in the future to expand and grow.
Community and Collaboration
In addition to partnering with local artists and businesses to create murals, Felker also collaborates with several other local organizations to help raise awareness for various issues and causes.
“I’ve worked with groups like the Shade Tree and Cupcake Girls, and I’m always open to working with non-profits whenever they reach out to me,” she said.
Furthermore, Felker has expanded her artwork to include more themes outside of just nature and desert inspired-designs.
“Feminism has become a big theme for me recently. In general, wherever I feel my voice is needed, I try to create time to make art when it’s needed,” she explained. “For instance, I donate a part of the proceeds from my “Fuck Racism” Black Lives Matter-inspired sticker to BLM. When I order the stock of this sticker, I donate then.”
Felker further explained that it’s personally important to make sure she spends her money on what she believes in.
“Not until recently did my art express things important to me in politics and society,” she said. “I’m still trying to find my voice there. I find value in it and want to grow into that more. So I join fundraisers when asked, donate when not able to be there, and continue to be an active voice in the community.”
The Journey Itself
Throughout all of her adventures, Felker shared that she’s learned a lot over the years – especially the last year.
“I learned that happiness is the number one important thing to prioritize in life,” she said. “When people purchase work from me, they’re often doing that because they are making themselves or someone else happy.”
Altogether, Felker shared that her favorite thing about art is that it makes other people happy. Speaking further about that happiness, she said, “I chose to have art as my full-time career because it makes other people happy; I take time off when I need to because it makes me happy. So, do what makes you happy, whether it’s taking time off for yourself or making something that brings other people joy.”
After the pandemic, seeking that happiness motivated Felker to keep moving forward and keep creating.
“During the lockdown, I wasn’t able to do events and connect with people on a one-on-one basis like I used to,” she explained. “Once I was able to start popping up at Market in the Alley and First Friday again, it was wonderful to reconnect with people I’ve met before and new people who stopped by, as well as see how my art and other people’s work made them happy and give them a sense of joy to experience.”
Felker concluded by sharing how the support she received from the community helped her stay sane and stay afloat, adding to “go out and support the businesses you want to stick around.”
“If they don’t get the support they need, then they’re not going to be able to stick around,” she said.
#GetinMotion with Mary on Adventures
There are a few ways to support Mary Felker, her art, and her journey! The most important way is to buy one of her stickers on Etsy or at any of the events she attends. Buy one for yourself or as a gift for someone else!
“I reasonably price my stickers so everyone can have accessibility to art. They last a long time, add color to your water bottle, car, or laptop, and there’s something for everyone,” she said. You can also find her work at local businesses like Local Oasis LV.
Businesses looking to acquire wholesale purchases of Felker’s stickers can do so here.
To see Felker’s latest artwork and news about upcoming events or sales, follow Mary on Adventures on Instagram and Facebook. Follow Hey Maker Co. on Instagram and Facebook as well.
Subscribe to Felker’s newsletter and get a free downloadable coloring page!
