Mary Morez facts for kids

Mary Morez (January 16, 1946 – September 25, 2004) was a Navajo painter.

Born near Tuba City, Arizona, Morez was stricken with both polio and rheumatic fever as a girl, and underwent numerous operations as a result before being adopted by Lawrence and Mary Keim. She first studied at the Phoenix Indian School before receiving a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona and received a scholarship to study fashion illustration at the Ray Vogue Art School in Chicago. In 1969 she chose to devote her work to full-time painting instead of commercial art. Allan Houser and Oscar Howe served as her mentors early in life. Her work combined traditional Navajo elements with a more contemporary, abstract style. Besides painting Morez also worked as a textile artist. For much of her career she lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Morez is represented in the collection of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.