Mural for Sarabeth's Tribeca restaurant, New York (2012)
invested in their careers. I was extremely fortunate in
my young years as an artist and did not fully realize
that until later on; but I have never regretted my
change in direction. During those parenting years I
kept creating: costumes and set designs/painting for
theater (which is really where I learned to apply paint
– nothing like a 30-foot olio or 10), fundraising,
curriculum development and program development
for schools, etc.
What I ultimately gained, in terms of art, from
that turn in my life‟s direction is that now I am richer
for the sensibilities and knowledge gained in those
many years, and am extremely excited and committed
to making a full and dedicated return to art. It is as if I
get to live a new life, one in which making art once
again is my life. I am so very lucky to have that and
be returning to it. (No matter how one engages with
art, I highly recommend to all to make art, be it
visual, musical, theatrical, etc. The time spent giving
that to oneself is a gift).
Anyway, as the children grew, I primarily
parented, did some teaching stints (art), and
homeschooled my kids for a few years, creating my
own art-inspired curriculum, and then when they went
to school, I went back to school through an offcampus program at Goddard College to secure my
Masters in Ed and certification. I went through a
divorce, single parenting our children, and taught in
local schools for a number of years. I love teaching
and curriculum development.
After a remarriage and several moves due to my
husband‟s work, I tried to re-engage in art by doing
some murals. It was also a way to try to re-enter the
working population (between moves for his job,
licensing requirements and my age, teaching was not
going to work). When my husband retired, I agreed to
winter in Arizona. From theater sets, murals was an
easy transition and I have always loved working
large, it is an extension from my color field interest,
and an interest in works that have a different kind of
relationship to the viewer than small paintings do.
One of my last mural jobs was for Sarabeth’s
Tribeca in NYC. That job was completed the same
summer in which a number of family events took
place. When I came out to Arizona two years ago, I
came out exhausted but inspired and in the habit of
daily painting. At that point I wanted to paint singleday small works. No major commitments for a while
so I turned the corner of our living room in Arizona
into a studio and bought some canvas and stretchers.
I called my son, Ian Marion, a painter (attended
RISD and NY Academy of Art) and said… now
what? Ian had seen some of my detailed high school
work and I still have a landscape floating around, he
also saw the murals which are a bit representational as
well as a couple of odd nonobjective paintings (I tried
to paint a bit, nonobjective work, while living in Long
Island), and suggested I paint representationally.
SCARY thought, as I had not done it for over 30
years. While Mark Rothko is one of my all time
favorite painters, in terms of representational work,
Jamie Wyeth heads the list with Richard Diebenkorn
a close second. Others on the list: Corot and Courbet,
Bonnard and Vuillard, Durer, Picasso‟s Rose Period,
Blake, Gabriel Rosetti, Thomas Hart Benton, Frank
Gehry (I know that is architecture, but his work