The Artists Collective of Westport will explore the power of words through the visual arts with two summer exhibits staged at The Westport Library. The two-part exhibition will encompass all three of the Library’s galleries: Word: Visual vs Verbal will span the Sheffer Gallery and South Gallery, and Piece by Piece will be displayed in the Jesup Gallery.
Word: Visual vs Verbal will open Thursday, June 20, and run until Monday September 2. Piece by Piece will be revealed during a special reception, also on June 20, from 6:30 to 8 pm.
Piece by Piece is a 6-foot by 8-foot art installation composed of the work of 48 Artists Collective members. Each artist received a 12-inch by 12-inch blank panel along with a 6-inch square section randomly selected from a contemporary painting. The artists created their individual piece, replicating a part of the larger painting in their own style, without knowing what the final exhibit will look like until it is revealed at the opening reception.
“The end result,” said Artists Collective member and longtime Library supporter Miggs Burroughs, “is an entertaining exercise in community, creativity, and collaboration.”
In addition to Burroughs, those contributing to Piece by Piece include Katherine Ross, Michael Brennecke, Nina Bentley, Susan Fehlinger, Dale Najarian, and Jay Petrow.
For Word, each of the Artists Collective members were invited to display a work in the medium of their choice — all inspired by a single word.
Each 12-inch by 12-inch “piece” of Piece by Piece will be available for purchase starting the night of the reception. Each square will be $100, with 50% of the proceeds supporting the Library’s art programs and 50% going to the artist. The artworks on display in the Sheffer and South Galleries will also be available for purchase, with a percentage of the proceeds going to benefit the Library’s art programming. Additional exhibit support is provided by The Drew Friedman Community Arts Center.
To further support the exhibits, the Library will welcome an Art for Lunch event open go the community on Friday, July 19, in the Sheffer Gallery, and Westport Poet Laureat Jessie McEntee will host a lunchtime writing workshop on Tuesday, August 20, with Word: Visual vs Verbal serving as the inspiration and writing prompt.
The Artists Collective of Westport is a nonprofit organization comprised of 150 local artists who have joined forces to discuss, create, and develop dynamic experiences for the Fairfield County community. The collective is open to all active artists in pursuit of expanding their careers and in developing a strong, diverse arts community.
Join us for a BYO lunchtime art meet-up with members of the Artists Collective of Westport. Hear about the work and inspiration for the current all member exhibition Word: Visual vs Verbal, now on view in the Sheffer and South Galleries.
Stop by the Library Cafe first and pick up a bite or brown bag it — and enjoy Art for Lunch!
Visit the Art at the Library page for more.
***
The Library is pleased to be able to offer free programs and events through the generous donations of patrons like you. Please consider giving to the Library so that we can continue to offer events like this one. Your donation is tax deductible. Donate Now!
Healing Power of Art
Art History 101
Stop by the Sheffer Gallery for a generative lunchtime writing workshop with Westport's Poet Laureate Jessie McEntee. The exhibition Word: Visual vs. Verbal, presented by the Westport Artists Collective, will provide inspiration for related prompts that Jessie has prepared. You can share your work aloud if time allows and if you feel so inclined. Her prompts might spark a new poem, short story, or even a longer piece! Feel free to bring lunch or buy something at the Café.
Jessie McEntee has served as Westport's poet laureate for the past two years. She teaches at Westport Writers' Workshop, where she works as the head of communications, and she also runs marketing for the Pequot Library. Her chapbook Jackie O. Suffers Two Husbands and Other Poems was published by Finishing Line Press in 2019, and a second chapbook, Frida Kahlo Wakes Up to Find Diego Rivera in the Mood, will be published in the fall of 2024.
Resources for Writers
Creative Writing
Word: Visual vs Verbal in the Sheffer and South Galleries
Piece by Piece in the Jesup Gallery
June 10 through September 2
The Artists Collective of Westport celebrates the visual arts with an all-member exhibition on view in all three of the Library’s galleries — Word: Visual vs Verbal in the Sheffer and South Galleries, and Piece by Piece in the Jesup Gallery.
About Piece by Piece
Piece by Piece is a 6-foot by 8-foot art installation composed of the work of 48 Artists Collective members. Each artist received a 12-inch by 12-inch blank panel along with a 6-inch square section randomly selected from a single contemporary painting.
The collective artists created their individual piece, replicating a part of the larger work in their own style, without knowing what the final combined image would look like until it gets revealed at the opening reception. “The end result,” said Artists Collective member and longtime Library supporter Miggs Burroughs, “is an entertaining exercise in community, creativity, and collaboration.”
This year's selection is Plunge, a 1992 acrylic and paper collage on canvas by Kerry James Marshall. To read about the artist and the historical references in this piece, click here.
And check out the video below to hear the artist talk about his work:
About Word: Visual vs. Verbal
In this annual membership exhibit, each of the Artists Collective of Westport members were invited to show one work that fits into the theme, WORD: Visual vs. Verbal. On display are works showing how each artist conveys an idea through visual language and by assigning a one-word title to their piece, they invite the viewer to contemplate the meaning of the word as it relates to their work.
***
About The Artists Collective of Westport
The Artists Collective of Westport is a group of creative individuals who have joined forces to discuss, create, and develop dynamic experiences for the Fairfield County community. The collective is open to all active artists in pursuit of expanding their careers and in developing a strong, diverse arts community.
***
Interested in purchasing artwork from this exhibit?
Each 12"x12" "piece" is available for purchase for a donation of $100, with 50% of the proceeds supporting the Library’s art programs. All artwork on display in the Sheffer and Jesup Galleries is also for sale, with a percentage of the proceeds going to benefit the Library. Price and artist contact information appears on artwork labels.
For more information, contact Miggs Burroughs at [email protected].
—
Exhibit support provided by The Drew Friedman Community Arts Center
Return to the main "Art At the Library" page
Join us at the Library for a special celebration that will include the debut of Word: Visual vs Verbal, the Artists Collective of Westport’s exploration of the power of words through the visual arts, and the reveal of Piece by Piece.
Word: Visual vs Verbal will span the Sheffer Gallery and South Gallery, and Piece by Piece will be displayed in the Jesup Gallery.
For Word: Visual vs Verbal, each of the Artists Collective members were invited to display a work in the medium of their choice — all inspired by a single word.
Piece by Piece is a 6-foot by 8-foot art installation composed of the work of 48 Artists Collective members. Each artist received a 12-inch by 12-inch blank panel along with a 6-inch square section randomly selected from an exciting contemporary painting. The artists created their individual piece, replicating a part of the larger painting in their own style, without knowing what the final painting will look like until it is revealed at this opening reception. Those contributing to Piece by Piece include Miggs Burroughs, Katherine Ross, Michael Brennecke, Nina Bentley, Susan Fehlinger, Dale Najarian, and Jay Petrow.
Each 12-inch by 12-inch “piece” of Piece by Piece will be available for purchase starting the night of the reception. Each square will be $100, with 50% of the proceeds supporting the Library’s art programs and 50% going to the artist. The artworks on display in the Sheffer and South Galleries will also be available for purchase, with a percentage of the proceeds going to benefit the Library’s art programming. Additional exhibit support is provided by The Drew Friedman Community Arts Center.
The Artists Collective of Westport is a nonprofit organization comprised of 150 local artists who have joined forces to discuss, create, and develop dynamic experiences for the Fairfield County community. The collective is open to all active artists in pursuit of expanding their careers and in developing a strong, diverse arts community.
Related Event: Visual vs. Verbal: Writing Prompts with Westport Poet Laureate Jessie McEntee
Westport's Artistic Legacy
Westport Public Art Collections
The New York Times best-selling author of Cork Dork returns to Westport and takes readers on another fascinating, hilarious, and revelatory journey — this time burrowing deep inside the secretive world of art and artists in Get the Picture. Bosker will be in conversation with one of Westport's contemporary artists, Miggs Burroughs to help us understand the art world.
An award-winning journalist obsessed with obsession, Bianca Bosker’s existence was upended when she wandered into the art world — and couldn’t look away. Intrigued by artists who hyperventilate around their favorite colors and art fiends who max out credit cards to show hunks of metal they think can change the world, Bosker grew fixated on understanding why art matters and how she — or any of us — could engage with it more deeply.
In the New York Times best-seller Get the Picture, Bosker throws herself into the nerve center of art and the people who live for it: gallerists, collectors, curators, and, of course, artists themselves — the kind who work multiple jobs to afford their studios while scrabbling to get eyes on their art. As she stretches canvases until her fingers blister, talks her way into A-list parties full of billionaire collectors, has her face sat on by a nearly naked performance artist, and forces herself to stare at a single sculpture for hours on end while working as a museum security guard, she discovers not only the inner workings of the art-canonization machine but also a more expansive way of living.
Probing everything from cave paintings to Instagram, and from the science of sight to the importance of beauty as it examines art’s role in our culture, our economy, and our hearts, Get the Picture is a rollicking adventure that will change the way you see forever.
Read a review of Get the Picture from The Washington Post.
Bosker is the New York Times best-selling author of Cork Dork and, most recently, Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See. A contributing writer at The Atlantic, she has also written for publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Her work has been recognized with awards from the New York Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and more, and has been included in The Best American Travel Writing.
Westport's Artistic Legacy
Visual Arts Collection
Jesup Gallery
March 16 through June 10
From the collection of Ellen and Mark Naftalin, this exhibit features album covers of some of the pioneering jazz musicians who changed the face and sound of American music forever.
Jazz developed in the United States in the very early part of the 20th century. New Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, played a key role in this development. The city's population was more diverse than anywhere else in the South, and people of African, French, Caribbean, Italian, German, Mexican, and American Indian, as well as English descent interacted with one another. African American musical traditions mixed with others and gradually jazz emerged from a blend of ragtime, marches, blues, and other kinds of music.
After the first recordings were made in 1917, the music spread widely and developed rapidly in a series of different styles including traditional jazz, Dixieland, swing, bebop, progressive and modern jazz. At the same time, jazz spread from the U.S. to many parts of the world, and today jazz musicians — and jazz festivals — can be found in dozens of nations. Jazz is one of the United States' greatest exports to the world.
Jazz musicians like to play their songs in their own distinct styles, and so you might listen to a dozen different jazz recordings of the same song, but each will sound different. The musicians' playing styles make each version different, and so do the improvised solos. Jazz is about making something familiar into something fresh, and about making something shared — a tune that everyone knows — into something personal. Those are just some of the reasons that jazz is a great art form, and why some people consider it “America's classical music.”
Description excerpted from “What Is Jazz” on the website of The Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Thank you to Ellen and Mark Naftalin for digging though their treasure trove of LPs and sharing this piece of unforgettable American recording history.
Exhibit support provided by The Drew Friedman Community Arts Center.
Return to the main "Art At the Library" page
South Gallery
March 16 through June 10
Award-winning artist Camille Eskell customarily explores self-perception, societal attitudes, and psychological states related to gender bias in her work.
As a first-generation American and the youngest of three daughters from a Middle Eastern Iraqi-Jewish family from Mumbai (Bombay), her purpose has been to examine her cultural history and familial heritage through a feminist lens in her work. For Eskell, the converging of these three ancient societies compounded the underlying disparagement of women they shared, which deeply impacted her as it played out in the family dynamic.
Through her art, Eskell aims to unearth the influences of embedded patriarchal systems and inequitable gendered traditions that persist across generations. In her current series “The Fez as Storyteller,” a group of mixed-media sculptures and two-dimensional works, she tackles the power of these beliefs and perceptions, and their broader social and psychological legacy.
This series is a culmination of Eskell’s lifelong interests in art, history, costume, and psychology. The works combine elements, cultural symbols, and associations from Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sephardic traditions, often melding male and female garments and accessories to raise questions about female empowerment or constriction. She often uses the fez cap, the traditionally male Ottoman headgear, as a structural base for storytelling and to signify the patriarchal base established by her grandfathers, who left Iraq for Mumbai and became traders of these hats in their adopted land.
The crafting of each piece is meticulous, and process driven, integrating a range of materials and techniques to attain her visual concept. The designs combine digital photo-based collage, with textiles such as saris, hand-made paper, cast sculpture, trims, jewels, and embellishments; her methods include disassembling/re-working existing garments, hand-sewing, and beading, and more.
Eskell exhibits her work extensively in solo and group shows throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Mexico and South America. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, such as the Hudson River Museum, Chrysler Museum of Art, the Housatonic Museum of Art, and the Islip Art Museum. She received Artist Fellowship grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts in drawing, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts in painting, and the CT Office of the Arts in mixed media. She has also received reviews and features in numerous publications including The New York Times, CT Post, The Hartford Courant, Art New England, the Huffington Post, and online journals Art Spiel, Posit 19, and Ante Mag, among others.
Eskell has conducted residencies Weir Farm/National Historic site and the Vermont Studio Center. She earned a MFA from Queens College/CUNY and lives and works in Connecticut.
Exhibit support provided by The Drew Friedman Community Arts Center.
Return to the main "Art At the Library" page
Sheffer Gallery
March 15 through June 10
Timed to coincide with VersoFest, each of the five large dimensional works in Finely Tuned, paintings by Marlene Siff— Fanfare, Crescendo, Legato, Elegy, and Fugue — is named for, and linked to, a specific expression found in music. Visitors to the gallery will be able to scan a QR code next to each piece and listen to the musical selections that the artist used as inspiration.
“As a child, I studied classical music for over 10 years and have always listened to music while studying at school and working in my studio,” said Marlene. “My love of music inspired a desire to develop a new interpretation of music in art. These ideas were influenced by the rhythm, structure, and sounds of the musical compositions and songs I chose for each one of the interactive, multi-dimensional paintings.
“Working on 7 Finely Tuned + 1 became a creative, emotional, and spiritual adventure! My hope is to inspire strength, power, courage, and happiness at this particular time of great stress in our country.”
***
Born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, Siff describes herself as being born with a paintbrush in hand. She attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City and earned a BA in Fine Arts from Hunter College, where she studied with Richard Lippold, William Baziotes, Raymond Parker, and William Rubin.
After graduation she began her professional career as a teacher, and then went on to create bed linen and kitchen collections for J.P. Stevens. After finding commercial success, she also designed kitchen and dining room collections for JCPenney.
Since devoting herself full time to her art, Marlene’s work has been juried into 153 competitions throughout the United States and has won 45 awards. Her work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad, including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, the Katonah Museum of Art, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Mattatuck Museum, the Attleboro Arts Museum, Columbia/Barnard University, the University of Texas, the Walsh Art Gallery at Fairfield University, Eastern Kentucky University, and The Capitol building in Washington D.C.
Marlene’s work is also in the permanent collections of the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington D.C., the Skirball Museum in Cincinnati, and in the Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center at Cornell University, as well as in many private collections. She works in her home-based studio in Westport.
“Every day, we are confronted with the fragmentation of our non-linear lives, trying as in a puzzle to make the pieces fit together and make sense of it all,” Marlene said. “In a world that can feel full of complexity and chaos, I am passionate about creating art that communicates a sense of harmony, balance, order, and spirituality.
“My paintings, works on paper, and sculpture depict imagery of personal and global events and psychological issues. They are a reflection of the world we live in, expressed through geometric shapes, color, light, space, texture, edges, and movement, each interplaying with one another and engaging the viewer to participate. The love I have for my family, gardens, ballet, theatre, and music have also always found their way into my work.
“Every painting begins with a conceptual vision, and ultimately seeks to convey a narrative. The multi-dimensionality and layered nature of my work aim to penetrate the illusions of reality, reaching the mystery and essence of the soul.”
Exhibit support provided by The Drew Friedman Community Arts Center.
***
List of Works
Fanfare: Fanfare is from the series 7 Finely Tuned. The form reflects its title, describing a short musical flourish that is typically played by trumpets, French horns, or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. Its range of color and fan-like form mimic the instruments associated with the term as well as the short burst of sound the term implies.
The selections are: “Olympic Fanfare and Theme,” the Boston Pops Orchestra, conductor: John Williams; “Fanfare for the Common Man,” Aaron Copland, the Philadelphia Orchestra; conductor: Eugene Ormandy; “Fanfare: Colonel-in-Chief,” the Regimental Band of the Royal Hussars. Siff encourages you to listen to this complementary Spotify playlist while viewing the exhibit.
Crescendo: Crescendo is from the series 7 Finely Tuned. The form, comprised of a series of curvilinear segments that are alternately concave and convex, increasing in size and color intensity as the work rises, reflecting its title, used to describe the highest point reached in a gradually rising intensity. Its color, pink, as well as the reflective strips shooting out from the work also connect to the explosion created by the “Me-Too” movement that was unfolding as the work was underway. The form and color can be read as a mirror for the way women who have been victimized have found their collective voice.
The selections are: “This is My Life,” Shirley Bassey; “Boléro”/Ravel Lorin Maazel: Orechestre National de France; “Maybe This Time,” Liza Minelli/Cabaret original soundtrack. Siff encourages you to listen to this complementary Spotify playlist while viewing the exhibit.
Legato: Legato is from the series 7 Finely Tuned. The painting’s title comes from the Italian word 'legare,’ which means to tie or bind. In other words, to connect or join together. In a musical sense, it signifies music that is played or sung without any space or interruption between the notes. The undulating form suggests this continuity as do the intersecting waves of black and white that blend to become silver, brighter together than apart. Together these elements create a blended, unceasing unity.
The selections are: “Yesterday,” the Beatles; “Canon In D Major,” Palchelbel, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, conductor: Leonard Slatkin; “The Rose,” Bette Midler. Siff encourages you to listen to this complementary Spotify playlist while viewing the exhibit.
Elegy: Elegy is from the series 7 Finely Tuned. Elegy: A setting of a poem, or an instrumental piece, lamenting the loss of someone deceased. The word is from the Greek elegos, a poem written in distichs of alternate dactylic hexameters and pentameters and sung to the flute. Classical elegies embraced a wide variety of subject matter, but prominent among them were laments and commemorative songs. The painting is comprised of shifting discs, their forms suggesting no beginning or no end, like the life cycle. Viewed in the context of the pandemic, the work is seen as a lament for all those who have been lost.
The selections are: “Both Sides Now” Joni Mitchell; “Fly” Céline Dion; “Flower Duet” (from Lakme) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Siff encourages you to listen to this complementary Spotify playlist while viewing the exhibit.
Fugue: Fugue is from the series 7 Finely Tuned. In music, a fugue is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition. In the painting this is represented by the layering of “musical lines” that rise and fall in opposition.
The selections are: “Little Fugue in G-minor BWV578,” Johann Sebastian Bach Leopold Stokowski/Symphonica Orchestra; “Cool, Fugue,” West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein New York Philharmonic Orchestra; “Shape of You Fugue,”Ed Sheeran, Chris Rupp/vocalist. Siff encourages you to listen to this complementary Spotify playlist while viewing the exhibit.
Return to the main "Art At the Library" page
Trefz Forum
March 18 through May 5
Reception: Thursday, March 21, 6-8 pm, in the Trefz Forum
This VersoFest, be sure to explore the Library’s first mixed-media art installation, Thinking Inside the Box. Born from an idea put forward by artist and author Melissa Newman, Thinking Inside the Box isa unique installation that brings together more than 20 artists from around the area to create original works that will be displayed in the central grandstand in the Library’s Trefz Forum.
Participating artists are set to include: Tina Puckett, Chris Perry, Marc Zaref, Tiara Trent, Rebecca Ross, Janine Brown, Darcy Hicks, Nina Bentley, Miggs Burroughs, Sooo-z Mastropietro, Tom Bernsten, kHyal, Melissa Newman, Mary Ellen Hendricks, Katherine Ross, Five Fingaz, Tammy Winser, S’aint Phifer, Linda Colletta, Mollie Keller, and Norm Siegel.
Return to the main "Art At the Library" page
Camille Eskell will be at the Library to discuss her exhibit, Scheherazade: Storyteller. There will be a reception in the Sheffer Gallery from 6 to 7 pm, followed by a conversation between Eskell and Miggs Burroughs in the Trefz Forum from 7 to 8 pm.
Scheherazade: Storyteller will be on display in the Sheffer Gallery March 16 through June 10.
In case you missed the event, you may watch the recorded program here.
Eskell, an award-winning artist, customarily explores self-perception, societal attitudes, and psychological states related to gender bias in her work.
As a first-generation American and the youngest of three daughters from a Middle Eastern Iraqi-Jewish family from Mumbai (Bombay), her purpose has been to examine her cultural history and familial heritage through a feminist lens in her work. For Eskell, the converging of these three ancient societies compounded the underlying disparagement of women they shared, which deeply impacted her as it played out in the family dynamic.
Through her art, Eskell aims to unearth the influences of embedded patriarchal systems and inequitable gendered traditions that persist across generations. In her current series “The Fez as Storyteller,” a group of mixed-media sculptures and two-dimensional works, she tackles the power of these beliefs and perceptions, and their broader social and psychological legacy.
This series is a culmination of Eskell’s lifelong interests in art, history, costume, and psychology. The works combine elements, cultural symbols, and associations from Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sephardic traditions, often melding male and female garments and accessories to raise questions about female empowerment or constriction. She often uses the fez cap, the traditionally male Ottoman headgear, as a structural base for storytelling and to signify the patriarchal base established by her grandfathers, who left Iraq for Mumbai and became traders of these hats in their adopted land.
The crafting of each piece is meticulous, and process driven, integrating a range of materials and techniques to attain her visual concept. The designs combine digital photo-based collage, with textiles such as saris, hand-made paper, cast sculpture, trims, jewels, and embellishments; her methods include disassembling/re-working existing garments, hand-sewing, and beading, and more.
Eskell exhibits her work extensively in solo and group shows throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Mexico and South America. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, such as the Hudson River Museum, Chrysler Museum of Art, the Housatonic Museum of Art, and the Islip Art Museum. She received Artist Fellowship grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts in drawing, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts in painting, and the CT Office of the Arts in mixed media. She has also received reviews and features in numerous publications including The New York Times, CT Post, The Hartford Courant, Art New England, the Huffington Post, and online journals Art Spiel, Posit 19, and Ante Mag, among others.
Eskell has conducted residencies Weir Farm/National Historic site and the Vermont Studio Center. She earned a MFA from Queens College/CUNY and lives and works in Connecticut.
***
The Library is pleased to be able to offer free programs and events through the generous donations of patrons like you. Please consider giving to the Library so that we can continue to offer events like this one. Your donation is tax deductible. Donate Now!
Women's History Month
Visual Arts Collection
Marlene Siff will be at the Library to discuss her exhibition, Finely Tuned. There will be a reception in the Sheffer Gallery from 2 to 3 pm, followed by a conversation between Marlene and Miggs Burroughs in the Trefz Forum from 3 to 4 pm.
Finely Tuned will be on display in the Sheffer Gallery March 15 through June 10.
In case you missed the event, you may watch the recorded program here.
Timed to coincide with VersoFest, each of the five large dimensional works in Finely Tuned — Fanfare, Crescendo, Legato, Elegy, and Fugue — is named for, and linked to, a specific expression found in music. Visitors to the gallery will be able to scan a QR code next to each piece and listen to the musical selections that the artist used as inspiration.
“As a child, I studied classical music for over 10 years and have always listened to music while studying at school and working in my studio,” said Marlene. “My love of music inspired a desire to develop a new interpretation of music in art. These ideas were influenced by the rhythm, structure, and sounds of the musical compositions and songs I chose for each one of the interactive, multi-dimensional paintings.
“Working on 7 Finely Tuned + 1 became a creative, emotional, and spiritual adventure! My hope is to inspire strength, power, courage, and happiness at this particular time of great stress in our country.”
Born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, Siff describes herself as being born with a paintbrush in hand. She attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City and earned a BA in Fine Arts from Hunter College, where she studied with Richard Lippold, William Baziotes, Raymond Parker, and William Rubin.
After graduation she began her professional career as a teacher, and then went on to create bed linen and kitchen collections for J.P. Stevens. After finding commercial success, she also designed kitchen and dining room collections for JCPenney.
Since devoting herself full time to her art, Marlene’s work has been juried into 153 competitions throughout the United States and has won 45 awards. Her work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad, including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, the Katonah Museum of Art, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Mattatuck Museum, the Attleboro Arts Museum, Columbia/Barnard University, the University of Texas, the Walsh Art Gallery at Fairfield University, Eastern Kentucky University, and The Capitol building in Washington D.C.
Marlene’s work is also in the permanent collections of the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington D.C., the Skirball Museum in Cincinnati, and in the Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center at Cornell University, as well as in many private collections. She works in her home-based studio in Westport.
***
The Library is pleased to be able to offer free programs and events through the generous donations of patrons like you. Please consider giving to the Library so that we can continue to offer events like this one. Your donation is tax deductible. Donate Now!
