Spectrum Series: It is Written

Spectrum Series: Terra VIII

Sediments: Circles

Sedimentary Series: Blues in the Night

Sedimentary Series: Terra I

Sedimentary Series: Terra II

Sedimentary Series: Terra IV

Sedimentary Series: Terra VII

Sedimentary Series: Terra IX

Sedimentary Series: Terra X

Mari's work is exhibited in galleries in California, including Art-Scape Gallery in Walnut Creek.

"Mari's use of beeswax, pigment and graphite along with other organic materials is masterful: The composition of her abstract work, along with the brilliance of color and evenness of form that she produces in each of her pieces reflects decades of study, experimentation and passion for the encaustic art form."
Merridith Baxter
Art-Scape Gallery

More Information:

Link to photos in SF Chronicle:
San Francisco Chronicle

Link to article and more photos in SF Chronicle:
San Francisco Chronicle

To see more of Maris Marks' work and for contact information, view her website:
www.MariMarks.com

email: marimarks@sbcglobal.net

Bio

"My encaustic paintings are created out of a deep sense of the oneness of humankind and nature. Through my paintings I seek to bring experiences of beauty, peace, and healing .

In my work I study and investigate a theme, often from nature, exploring differing permutations as building blocks of a whole. In the Intervals and Of Time and Nature series, I embedded leaves in layers of beeswax and pigment, interested in the variation which occurs in the process of covering and uncovering.

The components of Spectrum Studies are created through multiple layers of pigmented wax and heating. These images are then scraped, each layer as it is revealed shows another variation, suggesting views of nature at the macroscopic level, celestial, DNA or body imaging studies.

In the Sedimentary Series, I apply heat and light to beeswax and patterns of graphite. These fine materials move and reform as ground and sediment move and reform in nature. I seek to reveal the harmony and beauty at the basis of natural processes."

Mari's first encaustic paintings were created in 1992. She exhibits regionally and nationally. Her encaustic paintings are included in many corporate and public collections and are included in Joanne Mattera's ground breaking volume, Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax, (2001) Watson-Guptill Publ. Locally she shows with Art-Scape in Walnut Creek, most recently in a two person show in February 2007. In June 2007 she will present her work at the First Encaustic Conference at Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA where she is also included in an exhibition of encaustic works. Her encaustic paintings were included in the Portland Art Center's National Encaustic Show, "Impulse" in 2006 and were exhibited in the R&F Paints International Exhibit, "Encaustic Works, 99".

After graduating from the University of Illinois with a BFA in painting, Marks continued painting while raising a family, and for a time, lived on a farm in the Midwest. When she and her family moved to the Washington, D.C. area she exhibited widely. As her children became teenagers she returned to school gaining an MA in Art Therapy working with individuals and groups exploring issues of loss, illness, and trauma. In the '80's she explored these issues in fiber sculpture and painting. In 1992 she was using wax medium and visited her uncle's bee business. The resulting exploration of beeswax and natural materials led to a body of work focusing on healing implicit in nature.

Terri Cohn, critic and curator,  in "Mari Marks: a Reflection" writes,
…Marks creates a quality of golden luminescence with layers of wax, which diffuse and refract the light. This captures a mood that suggests discrete experiences of time, place, and emotional resonance that have a parallel with natural phenomena and cycles…what is lost and what remains... Her media and creative process become metaphors for her sense of personal affinity with the solidity and ever shifting disposition of nature's materials and cycles.