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Artists
Statement: Guess
it's the middle school art teacher in me. The bell rang
every 50 minutes bringing to my room a very different
group of students each glass period. Perhaps, as a
result of that conditioning, my mind changes focus
frequently. So, here are your multiple choice
selections.
Floral Oil Pastels
Santa brought a HD -TV for Christmas. Wow! I love the
shows of extreme skiers flying off snowy cliffs and jet
fighter pilots zooming low over mountain tops to dive
bomb their poor little targets.
It never occurred to me to view my big floral oil
pastels in that way, but that's the exact effect I've
been going for all along. Building layer on layer of oil
pastel, I study the 3-D structure of the flower, as well
as, the lighting effects on translucent pastels. The
resulting piece is often an insect's view, perched on an
outer petal ready to take the plunge.
Japanese Origami As a teenager, I received an origami book from my
aunt at our very boring Christmas part. I enlisted
everyone's help to figure out the paper folding
instructions with next to no success.
A month later, when I needed a study break, I pulled the
book back out. I couldn't put it down "till I finished
all the models in that short beginner's book. I was
hooked.
I taught my middle school Art students origami. They
donated origami tree ornaments to Christmas charities
and always had cool things to hang from their lesson on
balance - a mobile.
Now I aim at the original or a variation on a
traditional model. Sometimes I'll combine models into
something new." Dancing with the Stars" on TV got mixed
up in my head with a visit to the Field Museum's updated
exhibit of dinosaurs that resulted in a series of
origami sculptures ""Dancin' with the Dinos" Scuba
Views I could' do it, just couldn't. I passed the
technical tests, got certified and jumped overboard even
with shark fins in site. I could just not figure out how
to transfer those dive images into art. Forget
underwater photography - too much cost and technical
difficulty for me.
Since joining Chicago's Shedd Aquarium as a volunteer
Caribbean reef diver, I get fish to pose for me every
Wednesday afternoon. I observe my sea creature buddies
both inside and outside the exhibit. It's given me time
to think and plan. I've completed several SCUBA views in
oils, oil pastels, pastels and watercolor. It's a
challenge to convey the constantly changing sparkle,
color and movement of this very different world of
water.
After joining the Chicago Shedd Aquariu's collection trip last fall(
2008) in the Bahamas I've been doing a lot of tropical
fish subjects. After chasing fish under water all day, I
relaxed just watching the clouds go by. Funny thing-
they started looking like fish. Other people see sheep,
bunnies and funny faces in clouds, I saw fish, so that's
what I've started painting...fishy clouds?
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Education
1973, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN - M.S. in
Art Education
1971, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL - B.F.A. in Art
Education
Workshops
3/2005 Studied watercolor painting with artist Mel Satbin
associated with
" Flying Colors" watercolor group of Acapulco, MXW
8/1997 Studied at " Watercolor Weeks"
at Woebley,
Hereforeshire, England
Art Teaching Experience:
2003 - 1976 Kahler Middle School,
Lake Central School, New Market, IN
1976 - 1974 Southmont Jr./Sr. High
School, South Montgomery School
Corp. New Market, IN
1973 - 1971 Linden School (grades K-8)
North Montgomery School
Corp., Linden, IN
Solo Exhibition:
2007 April 14 - May 15, "April Showers" ,Crown
Point Art Center 1973 -
1971 in conjunction with South Shore Arts, Munster, In
an exhibit of 18 floral oil
pastels
1990 Solo Exhibit of Oil
pastels, Buckin' " A " Cafe, Chicago, IL
Exhibitions
2009 Nov 13
"Art Sharks" Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL,
Benefit
2009 Sept. 25 - Oct.13 " Fusion of the
Arts", Indiana University
Northwest,
Gary, IN
2009 Sept. 13 - Nov.1
"Salon Show" South Shore Arts", Munster, IN
2008 " Fusion of the Arts"-A Juried exhibition
in conjunction with the 3rd
annual
Regional Arts Summit Gallery Northwest, Tamarack Hall,
Indiana
University Northwest, Gary, IN
2007 Group Show
" Fascinating
Animals"
6th Annual Juried Wildlife
Art Show, Friends of the
Columbia Zoo, Lafayette, IN
2007 Group Show " 14th Annual Juried
Exhibit" , Art Barn, Valparaiso, IN
2006 Group Show" Art Barn, Valparaiso
IN " 13th Annual Juried Exhibit".
2005 Group Show " Salon Show" at
South Shore Arts
2005 Group Show " Shedd Expressions",
John G. Shedd Aquarium
Volunteers Exhibit
2005 "12th Annual Juried Art Exhibit"
, Art Barn, Valparaiso, IN
1985 Group Exhibit " 42nd Annual Salon
Show" South Shore Arts,
Munster, IN
Collection
John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago,IL
"
Pacific Reef" ( Oil Painting) is on display in the
volunteer office
" Home
Reef" ( Oil Painting) is displayed outside the Caribbean
reef
dive
locker room
Donations
2008 John G. Shedd
Aquarium, Chicago, IL.For their "Art Sharks" Benefit
I
donated a soft pastel painting titled" Aquarium Diver's
View"
2007 South Shore Arts, Munster, IN.
For their "Beau Arts" Ball I donated an
oil pastel
painting titled "Deep in the Heart of Summer".
Grants
1996 I received a " Lily Teacher
Creativity Grant " from the Lily Corporation,
Indianapolis,
IN, to create oil pastels and watercolors of subjects in
the
Indiana State
Parks and to share my work and experiences with my
students the
following school year.
Associations
18artists.com
John Shedd Aquarium Volunteers
Indiana State Retired Teacher's Association
Mail to
marilyndiller@yahoo.com
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