Marilyn Lyon Foley, an internationally acclaimed watercolorist, is a graduate of Wellesley College and a Wellesley Scholar. She recieved a BA degree in Art History and following college, did graduate work at Rutgers University and the Art Students League where she studied with Reginald Marsh. Later, she returned to Wellesley to teach painting and sculpture.

Foley pursued her intense interest in art for over sixty years of artistic distinction, earning her Signature Membership in the National Watercolor Society and an elected membership in the Copley Society of Boston, the Hudson Valley Art Association and the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club. A prize-winning artist, her works have been exhibited in the World Financial Center, the Education Department of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Arts Club and the Salmagundi Club in New York City and in many one-woman and juried shows nationwide. In addition, she is represented in hundreds of private and corporate collections throughout the United States and Europe. Foley is published in both Artists Magazine and Watercolor Magic, Her biography is included in Who's Who in America.

Marilyn Foley was recently chosen by the National Cathedral in Washington to create a series of watercolors to celebrate the Cathedral's Centennial Year that began in September 2007. Her paintings of the Cathedral were on exhibit in the Tower Gallery from October 2007 through December 2008.