I met Carrie Marill in 2003 by the means in which I never find artists - through her cold sending me slides. Even then, having just received her MFA from Cornell, I instantly was drawn to her work. Years later and the development, both conceptually and aesthetically, of her work has made me even more intrigued. It's rare for an artist to make such exquisite work to look at but that also has such a depth in meaning to it. Her new series in newfoundland (opening at sixspace on July 28) focuses on flora and fauna (primarily on plants and birds) whose status is either threatened, endangered, or extinct. Within her imagery she uniquely navigates and accesses the rich past of natural history illustration thus creating a modern re-interpretation of these threatened and endangered species. By highlighting that the three major contributors to loss of species are habitat destruction, invasive species, and human development, Marill brings delicate attention to this serious problem.
Carrie Marill received her BA at San Francisco State University (2000) and her MFA from Cornell University, NY (2004). Recent exhibitions include her Los Angeles solo debut Duke and Duchess at sixspace in February 2006, a solo show in the project room at Conduit Gallery, Texas, and New America City at Arizona State University. She has been featured in publications such as Phoenix New Times, New American Paintings, and the LA Weekly. Grants include the Contemporary Forum of Phoenix Art Museum Artist Grant (2005), The Charles Baskerville Painting Award, Cornell University (2004) and the CCA Grant, Cornell Council on the Arts (2003). She currently lives and works in Arizona, CA
Caryn Coleman: You were recently on the cover of Duke & Duchess of Windsor Society Quarterly Magazine because of your series featuring the couple's auctioned belongings in the 1990s. How did you become interested in the fascinating (if not bizarre) life of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Mrs. Wallis Simpson and Edward, Prince of Wales?
Carrie Marill: When i first moved to Phoenix in 2004, I worked as assistant to the fashion curator at the Phoenix Art Museum, which is this little known secret because not many institutions have a fashion design gallery. During my time there I worked primarily in the vault, organizing, steaming and documenting the collection, but I also assisted in research for exhibitions (let's just say I've seen just about every Vogue and Harper's Bazaar ever printed). The curator also had a collection of books in her office that were especially interesting, including the Sotheby's catalogue for the Duke & Duchess of Windsor's estate. The catalogue consists of two massive books containing practically everything they owned. I found it fascinating that they did not have family whom many of those personal belongings could have gone too. Their story was a bit before my time, but there was an immense amount of history and gossip that I sifted through to familiarize myself with their lives. Again I was fascinated after acquiring this information that their lives culminated in an auction. I tried to imagine what that event in Sotheby's must have been like. I had heard that one adoring fan couldn't afford any of the pug memorabilia since it was some of the most popular items, so he bid and won the couple's bed and now sleeps in it! People's fascination with the Duke & Duchess of Windsor certainly reflects the popularity of today's gossip magazines, and society's heavy interest in the most mundane of things.
CC: Two part question - Can you explain a little bit about your new series of endangered flora and fauna in newfoundland? How did you become interested in this subject and what did you learn while making the series?
CC:You say that you utilize painting as a way to investigate subjects. How do you pick what subjects you want to learn about and how does this organically shape conceptually into your work?
CM: It's usually like you had said - an organic evolution of things. For instance, with "newfoundland," I had previously been painting birds and wanted to know more about them so I took a differnt vein within the world of birds. I am a visual learner, so navigating an otherwise complex subject with visuals from books, movies, the internet and hands on experience are my primary ways of studying up and educating myself on a particular subject. With all that is going on in the world, I felt compelled to familiarize myself with threatened, endangered and extinct species. After doing research at the library, bookstores and online I realized that I needed to narrow my search due to the vast quantity of extinct, endangered and threatened species, so I choose to focus on birds and plants.
I wanted to be as objective as possible with the subject matter so I revisited Darwin's "Theories on Evolution" and other contemporary writers who recontextualized his ideas. Though extinction is a step in the process of natural selection, I soon realized through this research that the current extinction rate is a crisis primarily caused by humans, i.e. rapid over-development, loss of habitat, pollution, agriculture, and invasive species are some of the heaviest abusers of the ecosystem.
CC:You recently tackled string theory in your paintings - a very intense scientific theory. Can you explain what led to your interest in combining string theory with subject matter of animals?
CM: In contemporary Theoretical Physics there are two popular schools of thought (among many others, old and new) on creation and existence. Succiently, String Theory attempts to unify the known natural forces by describing them with the same set of equations, and the Theory of Everything, fully links together all known physical phenomena. With the "String Theory" series I was attempting to merge these two concepts and create a visual representation of how I imagined these hypothesis working. I feel that there is a connection between all living beings from rocks to whales. It should be noted that I am accessing these concepts loosely and from a broad perspective and honestly, they are quite fascinating, but most of the rhetoric and content is difficult to absorb. Creating drawings from how I imagine them working has been a useful tool to dissect and digest the immense amount of information being produced on these subjects.
CC:Your husband is a third generation farmer - how does being involved with his family farm influence your work, if at all?
CM: Never in a million years would I have thought that I'd be a farmer's wife, it's pretty damn cool. I love knowing that it takes 160 days to grow a carrot and we recently started a CSA (community supported agriculture) where we grow for 50 people using bio-dynamics and organic standards. The organic farm has been the highlight of my farming experience. It's hard work but intensely rewarding, and I have never had such amazing kale! (okay enough with the freaky vegetable chic talk)
How being exposed to all of this has affected my work, I can't really say yet. One thing I have noticed is how much more aware I am about farmland, what's being grown and how it's being grown. Driving around the country I am hyper aware of how development is re-shaping our farms and landscapes across the U.S. Most of the time it makes me want to hole up somewhere in the trees away from all of it, grow my own food, have a small tight-knit community and never see a track house again. Actually we are going to be doing just that, I can't wait!
CC:You live in Scottsdale, Arizona (studio in Phoenix). How do you find the art community in Arizona and how do you find it influences your work. For instance, the It's a Cowboy State piece you did for the Arizona State University Museum exhibition New American City: Artists Look Forward?
CM: Actually, I live in Goodyear, home of the Goodyear tire! Goodyear is about 30 miles west of Phoenix. Unfortunately, we live in suburbia, but it's close to the farm. The piece I did for ASU was directly tied to my commute to the Phoenix Art Museum each morning. I hated being in traffic, and knew little about the surrounding area because I mostly took the freeway. Deciding to divert my routes to work each morning, I discovered a lot of interesting neighborhoods and buildings that I never would have seen had I not gotten off the freeway. I have to admit that I have a really hard time with the way Phoenix is being developed, there is little foresight into the future of the place. With that said, there are aspects of Phoenix I do find fulfilling. One of which is the art community in Phoenix. It has been a perfect place to get started as an artist. There is lot's of support and enthusiasm for new work. There are cheap studios and four very different museums.
CC:You recently starting experimenting with video. How do you find working in that medium differs from painting?
CM: I have been painting for 14 years. Painting is a natural way for me to express myself and what is going on in my surroundings. Video is not a natural step for me, so it's taking me some serious patience and practice. Honestly, I haven't had the time to devote enough attention to it. There are so many inspiring video artists out there, I may just need to leave it in their hands. Plus, I suck at final cut or any other program which requires me to memories tools and steps. Thankfully Matt is really good at it, he can remember all sorts of functions on the computer but never knows which drawer his socks go in....funny how that works.
CC:Looking ahead - what sort of themes are you working on next?
CM: I enjoy finding new ways to freshen up my working habits. For example, recently I have been using collage in my work (love the color-aid paper). There is a canal near my home, where I regularly pull trash out of the water. I get lots of crazy looks from passersby, but I've been collecting some interesting worn down Styrofoam pieces which remind me of Monique Prieto and Jean Arp's biomorphic shapes. I have made a bunch of collage pieces utilizing the shapes of the styrofoam and cutting them out of color-aid paper and incorporating various birds of Arizona.
My main motto as always. K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid)
For more information on Carrie Marill visit Carrie Marill and sixspace.
Images (top to bottom) by Carrie Marill:
Duke and Duchess installation view at sixspace (February 4-25, 2006)
2273: A Chanel printed silk chiffon scarf French, c.1960, 2006
Paper, walnut, gouache and ribbon
4.5 x 4.5 in. / 22.25 x 22.25 in. framed
Whooping Crane, Endangered, North America
Kokia Drynarioides, Endangered, USA
Monkey Puzzle, Threatened, South America
Baishanzu Fir, Endangered, China
Brown Pelican, Protected, USA
Eurasian Wryneck, Endangered, Eurasia
Hawaiian Crow, Extinct in Wild, USA
Whiskered Tern, Threatened, Europe
Arizona Leather Flower, Threatened, USA, 2007
Gouache on paper
30 x 22 in.
Toothbrush Fern, Endangered, USA
Apu'u, Endangered, USA
Hoe A Maui, Endangered, USA
Blue Crane, Threatened, Africa
Salty Egret, Threatened, Africa
Swinhoe's Egret, Threatened, Asia
Storm's Stork, Endangered, Indonesia, 2007
Gouache on paper
22 x 30 in.
String Theory helps me to understand how Kestrels have adapted to human environments,
2006
Gouache on paper
9 x 12 in.
It's a Cowboy State, 2006
Acrylic on linen
80 x 80 in.
Carrie Marill received her BA at San Francisco State University (2000) and her MFA from Cornell University, NY (2004). Recent exhibitions include her Los Angeles solo debut Duke and Duchess at sixspace in February 2006, a solo show in the project room at Conduit Gallery, Texas, and New America City at Arizona State University. She has been featured in publications such as Phoenix New Times, New American Paintings, and the LA Weekly. Grants include the Contemporary Forum of Phoenix Art Museum Artist Grant (2005), The Charles Baskerville Painting Award, Cornell University (2004) and the CCA Grant, Cornell Council on the Arts (2003). She currently lives and works in Arizona, CA
Caryn Coleman: You were recently on the cover of Duke & Duchess of Windsor Society Quarterly Magazine because of your series featuring the couple's auctioned belongings in the 1990s. How did you become interested in the fascinating (if not bizarre) life of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Mrs. Wallis Simpson and Edward, Prince of Wales?
Carrie Marill: When i first moved to Phoenix in 2004, I worked as assistant to the fashion curator at the Phoenix Art Museum, which is this little known secret because not many institutions have a fashion design gallery. During my time there I worked primarily in the vault, organizing, steaming and documenting the collection, but I also assisted in research for exhibitions (let's just say I've seen just about every Vogue and Harper's Bazaar ever printed). The curator also had a collection of books in her office that were especially interesting, including the Sotheby's catalogue for the Duke & Duchess of Windsor's estate. The catalogue consists of two massive books containing practically everything they owned. I found it fascinating that they did not have family whom many of those personal belongings could have gone too. Their story was a bit before my time, but there was an immense amount of history and gossip that I sifted through to familiarize myself with their lives. Again I was fascinated after acquiring this information that their lives culminated in an auction. I tried to imagine what that event in Sotheby's must have been like. I had heard that one adoring fan couldn't afford any of the pug memorabilia since it was some of the most popular items, so he bid and won the couple's bed and now sleeps in it! People's fascination with the Duke & Duchess of Windsor certainly reflects the popularity of today's gossip magazines, and society's heavy interest in the most mundane of things.
CC: Two part question - Can you explain a little bit about your new series of endangered flora and fauna in newfoundland? How did you become interested in this subject and what did you learn while making the series?
CC:You say that you utilize painting as a way to investigate subjects. How do you pick what subjects you want to learn about and how does this organically shape conceptually into your work?
CM: It's usually like you had said - an organic evolution of things. For instance, with "newfoundland," I had previously been painting birds and wanted to know more about them so I took a differnt vein within the world of birds. I am a visual learner, so navigating an otherwise complex subject with visuals from books, movies, the internet and hands on experience are my primary ways of studying up and educating myself on a particular subject. With all that is going on in the world, I felt compelled to familiarize myself with threatened, endangered and extinct species. After doing research at the library, bookstores and online I realized that I needed to narrow my search due to the vast quantity of extinct, endangered and threatened species, so I choose to focus on birds and plants.
I wanted to be as objective as possible with the subject matter so I revisited Darwin's "Theories on Evolution" and other contemporary writers who recontextualized his ideas. Though extinction is a step in the process of natural selection, I soon realized through this research that the current extinction rate is a crisis primarily caused by humans, i.e. rapid over-development, loss of habitat, pollution, agriculture, and invasive species are some of the heaviest abusers of the ecosystem.
CC:You recently tackled string theory in your paintings - a very intense scientific theory. Can you explain what led to your interest in combining string theory with subject matter of animals?
CM: In contemporary Theoretical Physics there are two popular schools of thought (among many others, old and new) on creation and existence. Succiently, String Theory attempts to unify the known natural forces by describing them with the same set of equations, and the Theory of Everything, fully links together all known physical phenomena. With the "String Theory" series I was attempting to merge these two concepts and create a visual representation of how I imagined these hypothesis working. I feel that there is a connection between all living beings from rocks to whales. It should be noted that I am accessing these concepts loosely and from a broad perspective and honestly, they are quite fascinating, but most of the rhetoric and content is difficult to absorb. Creating drawings from how I imagine them working has been a useful tool to dissect and digest the immense amount of information being produced on these subjects.
CC:Your husband is a third generation farmer - how does being involved with his family farm influence your work, if at all?
CM: Never in a million years would I have thought that I'd be a farmer's wife, it's pretty damn cool. I love knowing that it takes 160 days to grow a carrot and we recently started a CSA (community supported agriculture) where we grow for 50 people using bio-dynamics and organic standards. The organic farm has been the highlight of my farming experience. It's hard work but intensely rewarding, and I have never had such amazing kale! (okay enough with the freaky vegetable chic talk)
How being exposed to all of this has affected my work, I can't really say yet. One thing I have noticed is how much more aware I am about farmland, what's being grown and how it's being grown. Driving around the country I am hyper aware of how development is re-shaping our farms and landscapes across the U.S. Most of the time it makes me want to hole up somewhere in the trees away from all of it, grow my own food, have a small tight-knit community and never see a track house again. Actually we are going to be doing just that, I can't wait!
CC:You live in Scottsdale, Arizona (studio in Phoenix). How do you find the art community in Arizona and how do you find it influences your work. For instance, the It's a Cowboy State piece you did for the Arizona State University Museum exhibition New American City: Artists Look Forward?
CM: Actually, I live in Goodyear, home of the Goodyear tire! Goodyear is about 30 miles west of Phoenix. Unfortunately, we live in suburbia, but it's close to the farm. The piece I did for ASU was directly tied to my commute to the Phoenix Art Museum each morning. I hated being in traffic, and knew little about the surrounding area because I mostly took the freeway. Deciding to divert my routes to work each morning, I discovered a lot of interesting neighborhoods and buildings that I never would have seen had I not gotten off the freeway. I have to admit that I have a really hard time with the way Phoenix is being developed, there is little foresight into the future of the place. With that said, there are aspects of Phoenix I do find fulfilling. One of which is the art community in Phoenix. It has been a perfect place to get started as an artist. There is lot's of support and enthusiasm for new work. There are cheap studios and four very different museums.
CC:You recently starting experimenting with video. How do you find working in that medium differs from painting?
CM: I have been painting for 14 years. Painting is a natural way for me to express myself and what is going on in my surroundings. Video is not a natural step for me, so it's taking me some serious patience and practice. Honestly, I haven't had the time to devote enough attention to it. There are so many inspiring video artists out there, I may just need to leave it in their hands. Plus, I suck at final cut or any other program which requires me to memories tools and steps. Thankfully Matt is really good at it, he can remember all sorts of functions on the computer but never knows which drawer his socks go in....funny how that works.
CC:Looking ahead - what sort of themes are you working on next?
CM: I enjoy finding new ways to freshen up my working habits. For example, recently I have been using collage in my work (love the color-aid paper). There is a canal near my home, where I regularly pull trash out of the water. I get lots of crazy looks from passersby, but I've been collecting some interesting worn down Styrofoam pieces which remind me of Monique Prieto and Jean Arp's biomorphic shapes. I have made a bunch of collage pieces utilizing the shapes of the styrofoam and cutting them out of color-aid paper and incorporating various birds of Arizona.
My main motto as always. K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid)
For more information on Carrie Marill visit Carrie Marill and sixspace.
Images (top to bottom) by Carrie Marill:
Duke and Duchess installation view at sixspace (February 4-25, 2006)
2273: A Chanel printed silk chiffon scarf French, c.1960, 2006
Paper, walnut, gouache and ribbon
4.5 x 4.5 in. / 22.25 x 22.25 in. framed
Whooping Crane, Endangered, North America
Kokia Drynarioides, Endangered, USA
Monkey Puzzle, Threatened, South America
Baishanzu Fir, Endangered, China
Brown Pelican, Protected, USA
Eurasian Wryneck, Endangered, Eurasia
Hawaiian Crow, Extinct in Wild, USA
Whiskered Tern, Threatened, Europe
Arizona Leather Flower, Threatened, USA, 2007
Gouache on paper
30 x 22 in.
Toothbrush Fern, Endangered, USA
Apu'u, Endangered, USA
Hoe A Maui, Endangered, USA
Blue Crane, Threatened, Africa
Salty Egret, Threatened, Africa
Swinhoe's Egret, Threatened, Asia
Storm's Stork, Endangered, Indonesia, 2007
Gouache on paper
22 x 30 in.
String Theory helps me to understand how Kestrels have adapted to human environments,
2006
Gouache on paper
9 x 12 in.
It's a Cowboy State, 2006
Acrylic on linen
80 x 80 in.
zoetica:
I met Carrie Marill in 2003 by the means in which I never find artists - through her cold sending me slides. Even then, having just received her MFA from Cornell, I instantly was drawn to her work. Years later and the development, both conceptually and aesthetically, of her work has made me even more...