Mary Keefer Bloom

Mary always taught her students to follow their passion and take risks. Mary Keefer Bloom left her “comfort zone” as a high school art teacher in 2003 when she retired to expand her role as a forest service interpreter (of nature) and an artist for the USDA Forest Service, at the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center just south of Girdwood, Alaska.

Mary spent 31 years as an art teacher with the Montgomery County Public School System in Maryland. She was a resident artist at Montpelier Cultural Arts Center in Laurel, Maryland for 15 years where she displayed a variety of her art in both solo and group shows. She is a member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society, Maryland Pastel Society and the Maryland Art Education Association. Mary has one daughter, Laura, who followed in her mother’s footsteps to become an art teacher in the Louden County Public Schools, VA. She is also proud to entertain her two artistically gifted granddaughters, Chloe and Ellie, whenever possible.

Mary’s love of the outdoors (and cold temperatures), led her to realize her childhood dream to “be a forest ranger” in the Pacific Northwest. In 1992, in response to a challenge from a close friend to “live her dream” she began volunteering her services as a summer seasonal in nature interpretation and as an artist. Mary began to record and document historical and scenic areas in national forests of this region through her artwork and donated the results to enrich and support the narrative and interpretive programs on the various districts.

As a teacher, Mary easily made the transition to on-site interpretation for the Forest Service and recently became a Certified Interpretive Guide. Over the past ten years, Mary Bloom has logged over 4,000 hours of volunteer work with the Forest Service all over the Pacific Northwest but mostly in Alaska. She now spends 7 months of the year, from March until October, in Alaska leading hikes, presenting programs, and narrating aboard boats and trains while interpreting the natural history of the Chugach National Forest. Mary also teaches workshops in watercolor, colored pencil and color theory to visitors and local artists. Her interest led her to join the National Association for Interpretation (NAI), and she has attended national conferences held all over the U.S. every November. In 2004, Mary won the NAI’s Outstanding Interpretive Volunteer Award.

Mary's artwork is part of the permanent display at the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center as well as part of the rotating display in their theatre lobby. She created an interpretive map of the Alaska Railroad route of the Glacier Discovery Train to Grandview, interpretive signs for many trails and a banner to promote “Kids Fishing Day” in Portage Valley. Much of her work can be seen in Forest Service offices, illustrations for publication and along the trails of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.