Mary Olin Geiger

Youth Engagement Coordinator

Pronouns – she/her

 

Mary Olin (Mo) is an educator and artist whose work emphasizes cooperative hands-on learning and embodied curiosity. Informed by a background in environmental collaborations, socially engaged creative projects, and technical theater, she aims to build connection through shared labor, communal experiences, and systems awareness. She has worked in a variety of learning environments and brings this interdisciplinary experience to Grounded’s youth engagement programs. Her projects have been produced and shown in galleries, museums, theaters, festivals, local organizations, and public or unconventional spaces such as farms, construction sites, crosswalks, public parks, storefronts, and the shores of a human-made lake.

Previously, she was Director of Collaborative Programs and Projects at Carlisle Arts Learning Center in Carlisle, PA, where she led youth after school programs, collaborative public art projects, community workshops, and local outreach. She also served on the board of the Carlisle Tool Library, facilitating creative and tool-use workshops that focused on building accessibility and confidence. In addition to her role at Grounded, she is currently Co-Artistic Director of the devised performance collective Valley Traction. Alongside this work, she maintains an art studio practice and designs scenery for site- and context-specific performances in a project-based capacity.

In daily life, she enjoys making artwork, perennial gardening, reading, collecting unique hand tools, making unplanned detours, and walking/hiking/jogging with her dog Lou and spouse Kent. She nourishes a sense of wonder by noticing opportunities to learn, ask questions, and engage imagination.