Mary Ann Rock, an artist, illustrator, educator, and long-time resident of Friday Harbor, Wash. died Sunday, Aug. 18, 2013.

Rock was born in Saint Louis, Mo. in 1931, the eldest child of educators, Clobert Broussard and Mary Jones.

A graduate of Bennett College, her early adult life was spent exploring artists colonies in New York and Taos, where she developed her skills as a sculptor, block printer, and painter.

In the 1960s, Rock lived in the San Francisco area, teaching  arts and crafts, moving to San Juan Island in the early 1970s with her son, John.

She was director of Cannery House and gallery assistant at Waterworks. She began her art company, Dream Keeper and exhibited in over 40 shows locally and in Seattle, Bellingham, Bellevue, Portland, St. Louis, and Lyon, France.

Rock’s art has been used in brochures and is in the collections of several local residents.

Her published work includes Dream Keeper, a book of her wood blocks and paintings. Her unusual lifestyle was memorialized in the documentary, Blink of a Life. Her wood blocks appeared in Eclectic Letters.

She considered herself a painter of the human condition stating, “I want to explore the various conditions, both physical and emotional, that we experience during a lifetime. The human condition has always interested me rather selfishly as a way to understand myself.”

Her paintings are noted for their wide range of bright colors.

Rock was an avid collector of the work of other artists and ethnic art and enjoyed reading, skiing, rock climbing, symphonic music, and travel. In 1995, she and her sister toured Europe for six months, exploring museums and legendary cities she had read about as a young girl.

Mary Ann Rock is survived by her son, John Rock, and sister, Valena Broussard Dismukes.

— Family of Mary Ann Rock