(Endangered Deserts Pair by Marjorie Wood Hamlin)
Marjorie Wood Hamlin’s semi-abstract landscapes, as seen on this month’s cover, burst forth in brilliant colors and rich textures as paint splashes directly from the jar to the canvas. The cover piece, Autumn Harvest, is one of a series inspired by the patchwork shapes of cultivated fields. Different crops side by side become delightfully unintentional abstract works of art. She calls them fictitious landscapes because they are not of specific places, but figments of her imagination. It is her philosophy that true creativity makes something new rather than follows a historical school or copies nature.
Most importantly, she believes in using art for messages for the world. This year she was at Stola Gallery in Chicago for the Democracy in Danger show with her painting, Keep Democracy Strong, a timely message for the world as Ukraine stands up against the unprovoked attack of Russia, and China rattles sabers in the Taiwan Straits. Previously, her video of paintings interpreting environmental issues was shown at the UN in New York for the exhibit Women Artists Changing Our World. It was later in a traveling show in Italy and Spain.
She also works in the abstract in both acrylic and a unique medium of copper and gold foil only on canvas with no paint. The latter she developed playing with adhesive and non-adhesive surfaces. This technique that graces many homes in Central Oregon is hers exclusively. In 2002 it was nearly the only abstract art for sale in the region. Surprisingly, it was readily accepted and blended in with both modern and traditional interiors.
As a teacher, she created an after-school arts and crafts program for migrant farm laborers’ school children in the San Joaquin valley in Tracy, California. Locally she teaches private painting lessons with emphasis not only on technique but also design and composition.
Marjorie has had a long journey in the art world beginning when she was 12. She later received a bachelor of arts degree with a major in Applied Art and Art History and postgraduate work at the Academy of Art in San Francisco for advertising and design. After a 25-year career in advertising and communication in the San Francisco Bay Area, she retired as the packaging program manager for Dynabook Technologies in Silicon Valley to commit full-time to painting and travel. She has made her home in Bend since 2002 where she loves the creative “go for it” attitude of the people.
Her work is in locations from Hawaii to Washington D.C. In Deschutes County, it is liberally collected from Back Butte Ranch to Sunriver and in between.
She is represented by Freed Gallery in Lincoln City, Oregon, is currently at the Betty Gray Gallery in Sunriver Resort Lodge through November and can always be seen at marjorieart.com or by calling 831-372-5273 for studio visits or questions.