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About

Statement

 

From her earliest beginnings, Marlana Stoddard Hayes has been inspired to use elements of nature in her painting practice, but now does so within a contemporary context. Over the years she has developed a cross-fielding system of information input, using elements in her garden as living subjects, along with extensive collections of artifacts and a personal reference library. Her work explores plant and biological forms that are an outgrowth of the inspiration these sources provide.

Long interested in living communities, Stoddard uses images to explore the relationship among various nested systems found in the natural world. Over the past five years, she answered the call to use spore prints from the fungi growing under her trees as a vehicle to embellish the work of her hands. Finding that the pigmentation qualities of the spores could be massaged by timing and temperature, she has refined their use to augment the chemical manipulations she employs in her work.

Trained as a calligrapher in her foundation years, she has always recognized the power and transmissive energy of each human nervous system, and how losing contact with this integral part of our humanity may leave us compromised. It is her personal mission to continue to inspire and teach others that by using simple tools, along with refined powers of mental concentration, they can reach higher levels of performance in everyday tasks.

 

Biography

  • 1957
  • 1960
  • 1964
  • 1967
  • 1970
  • 1975
  • 1978
  • 1980
  • 1983
  • 1984
  • 1989-90
  • 1990
  • 1998
  • 2000-03
  • 2002
  • 2004-11

  • Born

    Marlana born in Ottumwa, Iowa. Raised in Oskaloosa, where the rural setting informed her aesthetic.

  • Wyoming

    Moves with family to Laramie, Wyoming for father’s academic appointment at UW School of Law. Spends time in Medicine Bow Range and in the Colorado Rockies. Inherits father’s dream of living in the American West. Secretly draws in closets and on walls to the consternation of parents.

  • Iowa

    Moves back to Iowa when father engages in private practice and enters 4-H, competitive swimming and starts riding lessons.

  • EXPO 67

    Tours EXPO 67 in Montréal and gets sense of global scene. Develops extensive seashell collection and starts keeping personal drawing journals.

  • Swimming, Riding

    Engages in swimming and raising and training Morgan horses … achieving several state championships in English Pleasure and Pleasure Driving with King Cobra and Keomah Ann. Develops understanding that “touch communicates volumes.”

  • Kansas City Art Institute

    Enters foundation program at Kansas City Art Institute in place of senior year of high school. Studies calligraphy with Carl Kurtz and lithography with Bill McKim, (in the school of Thomas Hart Benton). Adopts the habit of daily journal entries with imagery.

  • Austria

    Travels for study in Vienna, Austria. Notes the use of gardens in health care settings and for personal use in most homes.

  • BFA

    BFA, Colorado State University. Also camp counselor with Cheley Co. Camps in Estes Park and Glenhaven, Co.

  • MFA & Residency

    MFA, Wichita State University.

    Begins 13-yr term as Artist in Residence with Kansas Arts Commission and NEA Funding, (USD 495 and Dodge City Community College).

  • Lithography, Mid-Four Biennial

    Lawrence Lithography Workshop Grant, Lawrence, KS. (Prints from the period acquired for the permanent collection of the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas.)

    Work included in Mid-Four Biennial, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO.

  • France

    Receives travel grants to live and work in Aix-en-Provance, and Valouse, France. Notes extensive use of gardens in all settings.

  • Residency

    Artist in Residence, Neskowin Coast Foundation, Aka, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. Work represented by Maveety Gallery and Reuben Saunders Gallery.

  • Grumbacher Gold Medal

    Receives the Grumbacher Gold Medal in Watercolor, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS.

  • Daughter

    Moves to West Linn to set up full time studio practice, and starts adoption process that will lead to adoption of daughter. Work shown in Musee Granet, Aix-en-Provance, France.

  • MAIS

    Completes MAIS from Marylhurst University. Thesis: “Why Drawing Matters: an examination of drawing through a spiritual lens.” Work shown at St. John’s College, Santa Fe.

  • Galleries

    Work represented by RC Gallery, Beppuwiarda Gallery, Butters Gallery. Continues refinement of painting process, limited to oil. Work show in U.S. Embassy, Mali, Africa. Work published in numerous national journals.

 


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