college center gallery through March 31
Exhibit will run at
college center gallery through March 31
BY SANDI CARPELLO
Correspondent
MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Artist Maria Marshall and daughter Isabella pose with two of Marshall’s paintings during the opening of the exhibit at Middlesex County College last week.
EDISON — As an artist, Maria Marshall has the best of both worlds.
By day, she is a full-time professor of graphic art at Middlesex County College’s Media Arts and Design Center, where she guides a diverse student body in the methods of digital and commercial design. Other times, the 36-year old Highland Park resident, who emigrated from Russia nearly 30 years ago, is a skilled painter and illustrator, who creates thought-provoking art collections and displays them in New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Her latest exhibit, "Figure-Structure Representation to Abstraction," which encompasses over a decade of work, will be on display in the Middlesex County College Center Gallery through March 31. It is her first showing in nearly two years.
Marshall uses mediums such as oil, charcoal, and ballpoint pen to exemplify art in its purest form.
"Finding commonalities between commercial and fine art has made my work stronger in both disciplines," said Marshall, a nationally recognized commercial artist, who resides in Highland Park.
"It is my personal belief that a thorough understanding of the visual vocabulary, skill in drawing, and color theory is applicable to all aspects of art and design.
"My personal art is a physical release from sitting at the computer. It is as much about movement as graphic design is about thought. It is as much about emotion as graphic design is about concept."
According to Marshall, the figurative, representational drawings of her early studies are the basis of all her artistic endeavors.
"Every painting and drawing I make still references that body of work," she said.
"It is still about construction, intersection of bones and muscles, intersection of structures and intersection of lines. It’s still about abstract elements coming together to imply something, whether that structure is representational or not."
With artistic influences that range from Vincent Van Gogh to Jackson Pollock, the 22-piece exhibit takes the viewer through a journey that begins with Marshall’s early interest in post-impressionism and concludes with her most recent obsession: American abstraction.
"My early influences were Matisse, Cezanne and Van Gogh — 10 years ago you can really tell I was looking at them." But within the past decade her stimulus has shifted to abstract art.
"Jackson Pollock, [Arshile] Gorky, [Wassily] Kandinsky, Lee Krasner, [Max] Beckmann were also influences. Chaim Soutine … dozens of artists. I can’t tie it back to one thing."
Marshall began her studies in the world-renowned Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. When her family immigrated to the United States in 1978, she continued to be inspired by the works from the St. Petersburg Academy of Art.
"I wanted to reach that level of mastery," the artist recalled.
"It took a while, but I was able to find a private teacher, also a Russian immigrant, who had been trained at the Academy."
After studying at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, earning her bachelor’s degree in fine art from Indiana University in Pennsylvania, and subsequently completing her master’s degree in painting at Brooklyn College, Marshall worked as a fine artist, a curator, and a commercial graphic artist in numerous New York City-based advertising firms.
However, being a professor at Middlesex County College may be her greatest work of art yet.
"Community college is a very interesting place to teach. Everyone is there for different reasons, and it’s interesting to see the change that manifests in them."
Those wishing to view Marshall’s exhibit may do so Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through March 31. The events are free and open to the public.