She then met sculptor James W. Buchman,[10][11] whom she married,[5] and started teaching as a professor in the art department at SUNY, University at Albany.

[15] Her early researches often led to large outdoors architectonic sculptures made of steel, sometimes with the addition of granite, cement or wood.

Art critics spoke about these overlapping, textured, dynamic, three dimensional collages that offer "final forms [...] almost amphibian-looking biomorphic creations that "verge on the vessel yet avoid a central, open void" : (John Perreault).

Polychromatic with layered transparencies, "the exuberant yet intricate looping shapes merge back again into an indescribable whole" : (Milan Hlaveš).

[21][22] Marja Vallila deeded her parents' estate (spared during postwar and Soviet times thanks to the presence of a Finnish flag in the window and diplomatic plaque on the building) in Červený Újezd, near Prague to be used by the community as a special education center.