Marla Swanner Ward has studied with local artists Oliver Parson, Vicki Reece, and Don Ricks.  She is a member of the local Fig Leaf Society, (a figure painting group), the Snake River Plein Air painters and the Pastel Society of the Northern Rockies. 

Ward first exhibited with the Snake River Plein Air Painters in 2001 after just getting introduced to outdoor painting.  Since that time she has done what it takes to improve….PAINT, PAINT, PAINT.  She paints on location in the summer; reads art books and studies art DVDs in the winter.