Mary Shannon Will was born in Ithaca, New York, and studied at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and the University of Iowa. Upon moving to Canada, Will taught at the Emily Carr College of Art & Design in Vancouver.

Will is known for her diverse artistic practice, working in a variety of media including printmaking, painting and ceramics. Today, the artist divides her life and work between Calgary and New Mexico.

In 1999, Will donated 45 artworks to the University of Lethbridge Art Collection, spanning the breadth of her career from 1968 through 1993. This gift included ceramic pieces, paintings, drawings and archival materials associated with her practice.

These works demonstrate Will's vibrant use of colour based in Pop Art sensibilities, her sense of play within the funk ceramics movement on the Canadian prairies during the 1970s, her extension from traditional woman's forms such as jars and utilitarian objects and her complex grasp of the interests in form and composition developed within abstract artistic movements.

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