Mary Lois Verrilla

View Mary Lois Verrilla's Most Recent Works

View Mary Lois Verrilla's Street Cars and Trollyes
View Mary Lois Verrilla's Original Watercolors
View Mary Lois Verrilla's Pittsburgh Paintings


If you live in or around Western Pennsylvania you may be fortunate enough to run into an unassuming woman with a camera and sketch book capturing life as she sees it in Pittsburgh's factories, downtown streets and neighborhoods. Mary Lois Verrilla doesn't look for sensational subjects for her watercolor paintings. She looks for real Pittsburgh places and people living and working on the Northside, in the Strip District, the Old Homestead works or on Cambell's Barge Line on the Ohio River.

Mary Lois is a Pittsburgh Treasure and for the past thirty years she has made it her business to document in her watercolor paintings and limited edition lithographs the changing face of the city and its people. "I stay in touch with change by being a good listener. Everyday people come up to me when I'm sketching in their neighborhoods and tell me about the history of their community church or the family that lived in the corner house or about their fears when change effects their jobs and their lifestyles.

I have found that being a women artist in Pittsburgh is an advantage. I can go into a diverse neighborhood to research a painting without posing any threat to the residents. They welcome me and even go out of their way to help.

Named "The Lady Who Paints Pittsburgh" by the many admires of her work, Mary Lois Verrilla considers preserving the history of Pittsburgh the legacy to her town. Her industrial scenes and cityscapes capture the essence of Pittsburgh's past and present.

"How fortunate I have been to live at a time when Pittsburgh was the center of the Industrial Revolution. It's important to me that the admiration and respect for the working man and woman be captured and not forgotten. The men and women of industry laid the foundation for not only my generation, but for our children's future as well. I feel compelled to preserve our past the only way I know - with my brush."

Formerly a student of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Ad Art of Pittsburgh, Joseph Fitzpatrick and Vincent Nesbert, Verrilla's career began when she was a young girl growing up in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh where she discovered her "God-given talent" of being able to transform the scenes of everyday life into beautiful, lasting memories.

Since 1973, the Penn Hills resident has participated in the Three Rivers Arts Festival, Aqueous National Watercolor Show, Southwestern Juried Art Exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of Art and was the only local woman invited to the Art in the Mountains Show by Paramount Press Publishers. In 1995, she was commissioned to paint the poster for the Three Rivers Regatta and painted the Christmas card for the American Heart Association in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

Verrilla is an artist who knows her business. "I knew from the beginning that to be successful I would have to rely on my own talent and instincts in my artwork and in my business. I was lucky enough to have a God given gift to paint but, I had to learn how to sell my artwork, balance a checkbook and make a profit. Through the sale of my paintings and editions I have helped put my kids through college, enrich my life and build a business that I can be proud of. My guiding principle is to be honest with my artwork, my clients and myself."

Over the years, Mary Lois Verrilla has seen many changes in Pittsburgh and she sees the local art scene changing as well. "Today Pittsburgh corporations seem to be less interested in the arts and in local artists. As a result, local artists are experiencing a decline in sales of original artwork to corporations who seem to be satisfied with limited edition graphics and posters in place of original paintings and sculpture.

With a strong following in Western Pennsylvania Mary Lois's limited edition lithographs and note cards can be found in most local galleries and frame shops. Her original watercolors are available through Three Rivers Gallery in the Union Trust Building and The Eclectic Art and Objects Gallery on Ohio River Boulevard near Sewickley.

As an eleven-year survivor of breast cancer Verrilla feels that it is God's plan for her to devote much of her time, talent and experience to charity and to helping young women artists. Over the past four years she has painted nostalgic Christmas card covers for the Leukemia Society with over 20,000 cards sold to benefit this worthy cause.

People from as far away as Canada and Mexico have requested that she publish this years painting "Sweet Memories" because it reminds them of riding the streetcar through the snow covered streets of Pittsburgh.

The nostalgic nature of her watercolors also earned Mary Lois a recent commission to paint a series of watercolors to commemorate the buildings that have been saved by the Pittsburgh Historic and Landmarks Association.

She is a member of the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Penn Arts Association and has taught continuing education watercolor courses at CCAC Boyce Campus. For more information about Mary Lois Verrilla's work contact the Eclectic Art and Objects Gallery at (412) 734-2099 or visit the Gallery website at www.eclecticartgallery.com.