Art Career, Large-Scale Artwork, and Motherhood with Marela Zacarías - Ep 25
This week on First Coat we have artist Marela Zacarías. I first discovered Zacarías' artwork (Mannahatta) years ago at the William Vale hotel. I've since been following her work and am really excited to share this episode with you!
We recorded this episode in January 2022 and I am finally able to get this published after having a hiatus due to my maternity leave. In this episode, I am pregnant and we talk about Marela's future artwork installations, some of which have been installed. If you're interested in large-scale public artwork, evolving your studio practice, or living in two places, this episode is for you.
Chalchiuhtlicue by Marela Zacarías at Sea-Tac Airport, Seattle, Washington.
The Healing Shawl by Marela Zacarías at NYU Langone Center for Women’s Health & Wellness, NY, NY.
Photosynthesis by Marela Zacarías
El Ombligo del Universo by Marela Zacarías
GUEST | MARELA ZACARÍAS
WEBSITE - http://marelazacarias.com/
INSTAGRAM - http://instagram.com/marelazacarias, #marelazacarias
Marela Zacarías creates painted sculptures of undulating forms with the quality of fabric, bodies filled with movement and expressive quality. Zacarías painterly vocabulary is the territory of unexpected encounters and intersections. Through their colorful elegant presence her works are a generous opening to others and their history.
Working with a labor- and research-intensive process, Marela Zacarías moulds window screen and plaster to fabricate her works. The sculptures’ surfaces are populated by socially committed geometric abstractions––shapes and patterns born from the artist’s study of the history and specificity of the site of work.
She most recently completed a monumental site-specific permanent installation “Chalchiuhtlicue” at the new International Arrivals Facility at the Seattle airport which will soon open to the public. The work is comprised by five 50 feet sculptures suspended in the air that were fabricated and painted in Seattle by Marela and her team over a period of twenty months. Zacarías works span from large installations to small intimate works.
Zacarías has held solo exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, Sapar Contemporary, Praxis Gallery, the National Arts Club, and Art at Viacom in New York; at MadArt Studio in Seattle, WA; at Wasserman Projects, Detroit, the Brattleboro Museum, Vermont and Galería Alterna in Mexico City. She has taken part in group exhibitions at Smack Mellon, BRIC, the British Society of American Art, Praxis Gallery, Y Gallery, No Longer Empty and El Museo del Barrio in New York; the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington DC, Wasserman Projects in Detroit and at CCSU Art Gallery in New Britain, CT.
She has received large-scale permanent site-specific commissions from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, WA; Facebook HQ, Menlo Park, CA; The Trammell Crow Center, Dallas, TX; the William Vale in Brooklyn, NY and the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico. Her murals can be found in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Connecticut, Ohio, Mexico, and Guatemala. She has held residencies at Pilchuck Glass School, MadArt, the Vermont Studio Center; the University of Connecticut, Storrs; and the Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C., among others. She was profiled in Art21’s “New York Close Up” series in 2013, 2014, and 2016.
Zacarías received her BA from Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, and her MFA from Hunter College, New York. She is represented by Sapar Contemporary in New York and Galería Alterna in Mexico City. She currently lives between Brooklyn and Mexico City.
Artwork by Stephanie Eche.
Your Host | Stephanie Eche, CEO & Founder of Distill Creative
Stephanie Eche is an artist based in Brooklyn, NYC.
Follow Stephanie on Instagram (@distillcreative or @stephanie_eche), YouTube (Distill Creative), LinkedIn, and check out her art website.
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