Mary Qian is a Chinese-born artist who has been painting impressionistic oil portraits for more than a decade. Originally hailing from Shanghai, she earned her B.F.A. in Fine Arts and Illustration from Brigham Young University in 1998. Both of her parents are scientists, and Qian’s early studies in China focused on the sciences. Yet, from her earliest years, Qian had also felt a passion for traditional Chinese calligraphy: “It’s considered an art form, and throughout school I always did it in my spare time, along with Chinese-style watercolor painting.”After graduation from high school, it looked like Qian would continue to concentrate on science in college. “I wanted to go on to study art, but in that education system, I really didn’t have a choice,” Qian says. Fortunately, Qian’s parents listened to her wishes, and her mother remembered a good friend in the U.S. who worked at Brigham Young University. Qian applied and was granted permission to come to Provo, Utah, to study art for six months. She ended up staying for five years, earning degrees in both representational painting and computer animation.