[1][2] Her father died shortly before her birth, and her mother moved the family to Dunedin where Mina attended Otago Girls' High School.

While there she met German printmaker Hermann Struck, who invited her to study etching with him in Berlin, which was considered an honour as he rarely took pupils.

[4][page needed] While in Berlin she studied with Lovis Corinth at his art school in Klopstockstrasse, and his influence is cited in her works such as The Red Hat (c.1914).

[5] In February 1915, The Evening Post newspaper visited her studio in Willis Street, Wellington and commented that her work had a "strong, almost masculine character...Free, firm, broad, sure strokes, and never a suspicion of pretty-prettiness.

[7] However, her etchings and charcoal drawings proved more acceptable to the New Zealand public than her canvases, which were felt to be too dark and solemn for local tastes.