Meet Marianne Graff, the Art Club’s December 2014 Artist of the Month
Artist of the Month Marianne Graff
Linda Strauss-Lewis
Marianne Graff, December’s Artist of the Month, has been a soft spoken yet strong advocate and hard worker for the PebbleCreek Art Club, contributing to our club’s growth and success. She has served as our secretary, vice president and president and continues to be active now in a number of less visible roles, all of which make possible the many goals and achievements of our active, artistic membership.
She came to PebbleCreek with her husband in 2003 where she has focused on art ever since. Barely weeks after arriving she began what she calls her “artistic journey” into watercolor under the excellent guidance of resident instructor at the time, Dottie Mitchell. My experience with Marianne can be summed up this way: nearly every time I show up in the Coyote Room, I find Marianne sitting quietly with her watercolor materials at her side patiently working on her latest piece of art, trying to enhance and grow her abilities in this difficult medium. Since I only show up occasionally, she must be there quite frequently! She wants to excel and invests her time and energy towards that goal.
She says, “Creative expression permeates my family history. My parents were both excellent artists: my father in drawing landscapes, my mother in portrait drawing and oil painting.” Her childhood home was filled with framed artwork, working easels, sketchbooks and portrait drawings in progress and more. Her siblings picked up the family business as well with each excelling in their own artistic endeavors.
But this piece is about Marianne. This serious artist has pursued colored pencil, collage and drawing. She’s taken classes with a number of PebbleCreek’s excellent teachers and has gone beyond our campus to study with artists from around the United States and overseas. She’s studied noteworthy watercolorists in depth, always with an eye to improving her own abilities and techniques. And she has given generously of her time. For example, she assists our own Nancy Hampton in the Opportunity House Project every summer, teaching the fundamentals of art to neighborhood children.
Marianne says, “As I develop my powers of observation, I have been unfailingly inspired by the desert’s beauty; its color and variety all around me and at the various places I’ve visited, particularly mountainous regions.” For example, her graphite and chalk drawing entitled Tranquil Lake, which will be on exhibit throughout the month of December, shows the multiple and subtle greys one often sees in the distant mist of the mountains that surround us. This particular drawing is Marianne’s imaginary rendering of the Estrella Mountains. Her watercolor entitled Sunflower Surprise features a multicolored background and equally colorful foreground and features negative painting techniques that Marianne has learned as a result of her extensive learning adventures.
Marianne, congratulations on being named our December 2014’s Artist of the Month, and thank you also for all that you do for our Art Club.