Nebraska’s visual artist and tapestry weaver, Mary Zicafoose was born and raised in Niles, Michigan, and is the daughter of first generation Polish and Slovak immigrants. Her parents and maternal grandparents, who lived next door, had a profound impact on her. Mary remembers and tries to emulate their powerful examples of being visionary and hard working.

Mary’s interest in the arts began at an early age. While attending a private Catholic grade school, Mary had the responsibility of laying out the priest’s vestments that were worn for performing mass. She was intrigued with the breadth of the imagination in the design and production of the garments, and learned at an early age that “cloth holds power” and recognized it as an artistic medium.

Her interest and fascination with art continued through college where she earned her bachelor of fine arts from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame. An impactful college professor taught Mary to “tap into my personal story to tell my art. I knew in his presence that I was to be an artist.”

Following her undergraduate degree, she continued on to graduate studies in the medium of clay at the School of Art Institute of Chicago.

In the summer of 1978, while attending a wedding in rural Nebraska, she met and later married her husband, Kirby Zicafoose. To this day she does not remember whom she fell in love with first – Kirby or the Nebraska horizon.

Moving to Nebraska to begin their married life, Mary transferred to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she took her first and only weaving class. It changed her life. Kirby was supportive of her new passion for weaving and told her “No more school; buy a loom and figure it out.” So, she did.

For 6 years, her love affair with all things Nebraska deepened, while living on the Zicafoose family farm outside of Mead, NE, where Mary was a young and inspired artist in residence in the burgeoning Nebraska Arts Council’s Artist in the School and Community Program.

Kirby’s prior experience as a Peace Corps volunteer and the Conservation International’s debt-for-nature swap program inspired Mary and Kirby to take a 1-year adventure of a lifetime to South America. The experience was an innovative and challenging cultural and environmental project for the couple. It was here that Mary gained a new perspective on the making and use of color and design in cloth. It is because of her experiences abroad that she felt divinely inspired to “weave symbols into the future.” 

Making their way back to the United States, Kirby began a 30-year career with Tenaska and Mary spent many years working and creating art while they lived in New Mexico, Minnesota, and Oregon. In 1996, they eventually returned to Nebraska with their young daughter, Kale, to settle down.

For over 3 decades, Mary has pursued her passion for weaving and creating art. Her works have been described as “visually compelling and narrative.”  Mary is predominantly self-taught in her textile work. She is best known for her work in ikat woven tapestry.

Her studio practice for the last decade has focused on creating large-scale contemporary tapestry installations for public buildings and homes in the Omaha and greater Nebraska area, as well as around the world. In the Omaha area she has 27 installations, including the Holland Performing Arts Center, the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, and the University of Nebraska Omaha Community Engagement Center.

Her work is exhibited and collected internationally by many enthusiasts and art collectors. As part of the United States Art in Embassies Program, her work is also on display internationally in several U.S. Embassies around the world.

“I am intensely  proud to have built an international career as a tapestry weaver,” Mary said. “The world has met me and recognized my work, particularly in our region. I have been given opportunity after opportunity and a platform that is so powerful.”

Mary is quick to credit Kale as one of the most influential people in her career. Now, her daughter, her husband and their three children, Gray (5), West (3) and Penn (1), live in Chicago. Kirby, Mary’s husband of 44 years, has also been a great inspiration. “He has been supporting and encouraging me to ‘keep working, keep working over the years,” Mary said. “He always went the extra mile, so I could go the extra mile.”

She is proud of her civic involvement which is extensive, including being a founding member and past president of The Union for Contemporary Art in North Omaha; a founding member of the Omaha Conservatory of Music; and a board member of the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney. She is a three-time USA Artist Finalist and a Women’s Center for Advancement’s Distinguished Women of the Year recipient. This year she received the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mary is a published author and continues to design, dye, weave, teach, lecture, exhibit, and mentor nationally, traveling the world. But she always comes back to her home base – her studio and their home on 150 acres overlooking the Platte River outside of Cedar Bluffs, NE. “I could not live in a more perfect spot.”