Founder Biography

Mary Welch Higgins, owner and founder of Distinct Studios, began using computers in the late 80’s while working as an artist/employee of the Phillips Collection in Washington DC. As a recent graduate of the Corcoran College of Art, her tools were pastel, plaster and graphite, but excited by the possibilities of using computers to make art, she took a leap in 1992 to became one of the first students in Visual Information Technologies graduate program at George Mason University. Working on Silicon Graphics workstations while studying 3D computer animation, she also took courses in C programming specifically developed to instruct artists in the use of code as a design tool.

Other professional experience includes developing and teaching college-level courses in visual thinking, multimedia design and computer animation.

Over the years, she's cultivated a wide range of clients including the National Library of Medicine, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, The National Geographic Society, and most recently as a subcontractor for George Mason University.

She was a volunteer and member of ACM SIGGRAPH for more than ten years, serving on the Chapters Committee from 2002 to 2005 and as Chair of the DC-Metro Area Chapter from 1999 to 2001.

 

Photography by Jay Townsend/Primal Design Studio LLC