Marybeth Hekman loves flowers. Her garden shows the striking results of tender loving care and her watercolor depictions of flowers in natural settings convey the sense of wonder she has gained for their simple beauty. She paints to honor their Creator and to interpret the wonder of God’s love in all aspects of life. Her talents have grown as naturally as the subjects of her paintings. Although she was originally trained as a nurse, her focus for the past forty years has been caring for her husband and three children as a homemaker. She pursued her instinctive interests in art all through that time by experimenting in multiple mediums. She settled on watercolor as her favorite, and works at using the fluid medium to convey even the smallest details in her paintings. Marybeth is mostly self-taught, but art classes and workshops have supplemented and affirmed her talents along the way. She has displayed her works at private shows and galleries in West Michigan. She won the Purchase Award at the Tulip Time Holland Friends of Art show in 2004 and the Loeschner Award at Meijer Gardens in 2005.

After 35 years in West Michigan, Marybeth now lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey with her husband, Ken, a retired healthcare consultant and poet. The Hekmans lost their first child in a car accident at the age of 17 in 1998. Artistic expression and international service have become part of their healing.

Marybeth can be contacted by email at Marybeth@hekmangroup.com or by calling 616-990-3949. Her works can also be found on Redbubble.

The 2005 recipient of the $1,000 Ray and Nancy Loeschner Art Competition award is Marybeth Hekman of Holland. Her winning entry was a watercolor titled Welcome to the Gardens. Marybeth is an artist who loves her flowers, her gardens, and Meijer Gardens. She works in a representational style, and watercolor is her preferred medium, although she also works in pen and ink, glass, fabric, and paper. Marybeth is represented by several galleries in Michigan and her work may be found in numerous private and public collections in the United States, Germany, Romania, Honduras, and Kyrgystan.

For this, the fourth annual Ray and Nancy Loeschner Art Competition, the juror was George Bayard III of the Bayard Gallery of Fine African Art and Books in Grand Rapids. A prominent member of the West Michigan Arts Community, Mr. Bayard serves on the boards of the Dyer Ives Foundation, Kendall College of Art and Design, the Public Museum of Grand Rapids, and other arts-related community organizations.

Our congratulations to Marybeth for a beautiful work.. .and a beautiful tribute to the Gardens. Marybeth Hekman, Welcome to the Gardens.