Art making and dance have coexisted side by side for all of Marylouise Learned's life. Born in Tokyo, Japan, to a deaf mother and military father she became bi-lingual in American sign language, and well traveled. Raised on the Monterey Peninsula, she studied classical ballet until a childhood illness put her in the hospital. During her recovery, her mother brought her just about every imaginable art supply along with needles and thread. She taught herself to embroider and always had a sketchbook. While taking summer classes at San Francisco Ballet School, she drew between classes.
She returned to dance in college where she earned a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. In her years there she took classes at the Art and Design school, and was given private studio space where she designed and constructed all the sets and costumes for her productions. She was a Three-time scholarship recipient with reviews in Dance News, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Los Angeles Times.
In the early 1980s she turned her attention to the rigors of Eastern Philosophies and became a student of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism. She spent 5 years living in a meditation center in eastern Vermont where she raised a family and took part in hosting many high-ranking Tibetan meditation masters. It was a life dedicated to service.
In 1991, she moved to Boulder, Colorado with her family and began her re-entry in to the world of art. She took classes in dance at Naropa University and was asked to design costumes for faculty productions. She took couture-sewing classes at Studio Bernina and was introduced to quilting and later to Front Range Contemporary Quilters.
In 1997, she was accepted into her first juried show at Denver's Metro State College Gallery. In 2001 she won best of "mixed media" from Boulder Art Association’s 10th annual Juried show. From there she has gone on to exhibit across the United States.
She has been producing and selling one of a kind Mixed Medium Quilted Textiles since 1995, through commissions and sales. She currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with her Husband, teen-age son and a 95lb Air-Dale/Rottwieler named Duncan.