Born in Galway in 1977, Mary studied art in the Limerick School of Art and Design where she achieved a First Class Honours BA Degree in Fine Art Painting in 2001 and a First Class Honours Higher Diploma in Art and Design Teacher Education in 2003. In 1998, she completed an Erasmus student exchange with Athens School of Fine Art. She painted on numerous Greek islands and studied the traditional skill of icon painting.
Fahy was awarded the Revenue Commissioner's Bursary Purchase Prize for her Degree Show and was selected for 'Quadrant - The Young Contemporaries' exhibition in the Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick. She was twice short-listed for the Countess Markievicz Medal for Painting by the United Artists Club in Dublin. Winner of both the national Larkin Memorial Award and the Irish Times Award for excellence in art teaching, Fahy has exhibited a number of Creative Engagement educational projects in the National Museum of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Botanic Gardens and the National Sports Arena. She also holds a higher diploma in French from NUIG. She was Artist in Residence in Camac Arts Centre, France, in 2012 and in the Burren Eco Unesco Geopark in 2019. In 2022 she was selected by Glór for their Artist to Artist Mentoring Programme, and was thrilled to be mentored by acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Vera Klute. Fahy co-founded the Clare based Artist-Mother Collective with artists Bella Watson and Bonnie Boyle in 2022 and together with artist Edel Hogan they collaborated on an experimental residency 'Time and Space', at the Courthouse Gallery and Studios, Ennistymon in summer 2022. Mary works from her studio in Ennistymon on the Wild Atlantic Way. Her unique visual language is grounded in intuition, personal experience and direct observation. Fahy's work is in numerous public and private collections, both national and international, including the Revenue Commissioners, The Boyle Civic Art Collection, Camac Arts Centre in France, and in the collection of President Michael D. Higgins. Her work is held in private collections worldwide, including Ireland, the UK, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, The USA, Australia and The UAE.