Mary Lohan was born in Dublin in 1954. She studied painting at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and was a member of the Board there from 1996 to 1999. She was awarded the Taylor De Vere Award at the 1991 RHA Annual Exhibition and 1st Prize at the Claremorris Open Exhibition in 1992. In 2001 Lohan was elected to Aosdána and in recent years she has shown her work at the National Gallery, Chester Beatty Library and Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Mayo; Vangard Gallery, Cork; Hamilton Gallery, Sligo; and Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast. Her work is represented in the collections of the Department of the Taoiseach, AIB, OPW / State Art Collection, and in private collections in Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe, Japan and America.