Marla Allison
BIOGRAPHY
Marla Allison is a contemporary painter from Laguna Pueblo, NM now living in Healdsburg, CA. Inspired byancestral traditions, the human experience, and cultural landscapes, Allison’s work paints from the mind’s eye as a free spirit exploring various painting styles to capture the essence of place and time – past and present.
In Allison’s words, “The collaboration of artists through the open-minded exchange of cultural perspectives and traditions builds the creative spirit and strengthens the bridges between diverse planes. Through the shared expression of our creative energy, we can inspire, teach, and learn from each other to advance the evolution of the human spirit.”
Allison maintains a professional lifestyle committed to cultural exchanges near and far that have yielded lectures, murals, illustrations, and exhibitions nationally and internationally.
Allison’s studio is at the Santa Rosa Art Center, Studio 3.
Website: www.marlaallison.com
Instagram: @marlaallison
Facebook: Marla Allison - Artist
ARTIST STATEMENT
I was a very quiet child; my paintings are my voice.
My beginnings were raised with traditional beliefs and customs in my ancestral family village, which is in the western desert landscape of Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico. I am Water Clan of Hopi Pueblo and part Laguna Pueblo, Jemez Pueblo, and half Anglo. My body of work is derived from the lives of people, landscapes, and culture within and outside the reservation. Raised with the traditions of Laguna and Hopi, I now live and work in the North Bay area of California near the city of San Francisco. The change of landscape has allowed me to change my way of thinking. Ceramics are the first art form of women of Pueblo descent. My paintings use acrylic paint with gold and silver leafing. The influence of traditional pottery design has been a part of my work since I started painting. As I paint, I allow my mind to meditate into a world of creation, allowing the paint strokes to move as water with color and design.
Starting from portraits, landscapes, and subjects of what’s familiar to now, painting symbolic layers of existence has been the challenge with abstract. I create each canvas starting with the idea of plaster walls in old houses and add vibrant colors with luxurious golds and silver leafing added as a symbol of new luxury like I’ve seen throughout the world through travel. I want to show the timeless importance of Pueblo art while keeping the pottery designs in each composition. These designs were created by our first people, and they should always carry us into the future. The meaning of this work is to keep one step in the past, one in the present, and let it all lead us to the future.
