Maria Fearn

About Maria

Maria Fearn is a Lincolnshire-based, freelance artist and designer trading under the name, Fearn by Design.

She is a creative all-rounder offering her skills and services in design, branding, interior solutions, and artwork commissions for private and commercial clients.

Her passion for painting has flourished in recent years, inspired by the vast, ever-changing, big Lincolnshire skies, Maria strives to capture the beauty of her coastal and countryside surroundings, the people and sense of place, within her work. If pushed, she would describe her style as contemporary landscape but prefers not to be labelled, enjoying the freedom of experimentation within her work. Her background is in textiles and printmaking, an approach still reflected within in her work, with the use of colour, mark making, texture and

gestural drawing.

Her career spans over 25 years within the creative industries and educational sectors. Initially studying and working in Manchester throughout the 90’s, as a textiles and interior designer, working with many high street brands including Marks and Spencer, Next and Dorma.

However, the demise of the UK textiles

industry required her to pivot her career into alternative directions, teaching art and design within the FE and HE education sector whilst developing her freelance career.

Based in London, working in retail as a creative

consultant, she specialised store design, visual displays, prop design and immersive concepts for events and promotions. This formed a large part of her career, developing her project management and visual storytelling skills, notable projects included pop-ups at London Fashion Week, Chelsea Flower Show, Habitat store concepts, and many luxury brand promotions and press launches.

After 15 years in London, Maria returned to her hometown of Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, with her young daughter, seeking a better work-life balance. The time felt right to return to study and graduated a second time, with a first-class hons' degree from Hull University in 2015, notably receiving the prestigious Wendy Stubbs Award for Outstanding High Achievement.

She then went on to become the course leader on the same course in which she studied, a position she held for over four years alongside developing her own creative practice, which currently is her primary focus.

Her artwork has featured in many exhibitions and stocked locally. While she continues to take commissions, Maria is developing an online presence to reach a wider audience. Whether working independently or collaboratively, she stays committed to creating unique, meaningful art and successful design that resonates

with her clients and community.

Gallery