This week’s featured artist: Marie Crow, member since 2013
ME: I am a portrait artist. I was born and raised in Annapolis, growing up on Spa Creek next to my grandmother, who ran Flood’s Firestone on West Street. I have been a painter since childhood; I took my first art classes in Annapolis from a German woman named Mrs. Hansel, who was my kindergarten teacher. I have studied art at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Oxford, England, George Mason University, Northern Virginia Community College, and at the Art League School in Alexandria Virginia. I now live in University Park, MD.
MY ART: My current artistic goal is to explore the classical style of portraiture as I paint at the National Gallery of Art, where I am a Copyist. I am trying to fuse my colorist roots with the old master style of portraiture. I have a studio in Riverdale, Maryland, where I paint commissioned portraits of people and pets from life and from photographs. I include things that help describe the interests and spirit of the person in each picture. Recently I painted a six-year-old boy in his fencing outfit; he became ‘the dragon slayer!’ I also paint still life and landscapes in oils and I use acrylic and mixed media to paint big, bold, colorful, abstracts based on nature, commissioned for offices and homes. You can see more of my work at www.PassagewaysStudio.com, or on the Art League Gallery website, under Marie Crow, http://www.theartleague.org/blog/2012/11/08/three-new-exhibits-an-artist-talk/
ME and MFA: I am a new member of MFA and I have enjoyed it so far. It is always fun to come back to this great town. Mulmiester’s ice cream store is gone, as is the Sarah Jennings doll house shop that I loved as a little girl, but the town has the same feel, and I always manage to get a good parking spot when I return! I volunteered to gallery sit for the holiday show and sale in downtown Annapolis, and have been juried in to the Circle gallery, where I received an honorable mention for a floral still life — very exciting! I love ALL of the emails MFA sends out to remind us of upcoming shows…every reminder is appreciated!
Every week, we feature an MFA member for “Me & My Art Monday.” If you are interested, please submit a photo and a paragraph about YOU, YOUR ART, and MFA & YOU – around 300-350 words, to meandmyart@mdfedart.org.