Mechthild Ehmann's development as a sculptor got off to a very traditional start. She is a qualified stonemason and, following her apprenticeship from 1983 to 1986, worked as a journeyman at the Münsterbauhütte in Schwäbisch Gmünd before getting a degree at the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart. Her teachers there were Karl Hennig Seemann, Josef Madh, Robert Schad and Micha Ullmann.