By Dee Dwyer
The potter Iris Naessens-Patterson and the artist and teacher Marlene York had a show last year called Accelerated Erosion where they made art of the clay from the coast of Lawrencetown. Iris made pots, but Marlene York made paintings from the clay!
Marlene is a dedicated art teacher, the manager of the musician Gordon Stobbe, her husband, and their business FiddleBooks (see FiddleBooks.com). Marlene York paints in oils, watercolours, clay, and draws in conté, pencil, charcoal, and mixed media. Her enthusiasm about art is contagious as she talked in her studio about her process, her students’ works, and her fascination with shadows and light.
Marlene’s studio is brimming with art: a large landscape stands on an easel while students’ artwork hangs on the walls; it evens climbs up the ceiling. On the table are bowls of clay and shells, and buckets of bones and larger shells are gathered on the floor. The table is full of art materials, books, and a work-in-progress: a commission and painting from clay from the North Mountain.
She explains how she is exploring with clay, mixing it with egg yolk or gum arabic, creating different effects. Her evolving explorations are the epitome of the creative artist.
“I started making art in grade 4 or before,” says Marlene, “with my mother’s encouragement, and had my first show and sale when I was in high school.”
Born in Ottawa, she grew up in Ontario, and lived in California and other places. She and her husband came to Nova Scotia in 1977 and to Seaforth in 1985. She applied to Mount Allison University, she says, “because that’s where all the realists were.”
“I wanted to work at home when my kids were young,” she says, so she started teaching art and did so for thirty years. “My kids had to come to class.” Marlene shows me a small painting of the larger mural that students made at the French school in Porter’s Lake, based on the concept of diversity and inclusion.
She has taught at North Woodside Community Centre, at Dartmouth Visual Arts, and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia summer camps at Alderney, and many classes in her studio for children and teens. Marlene is just back from the Cypress Hills in Alberta where she taught plein air drawing at the Metis Cultural Camp. Her studio classes ended with COVID, giving her more time to focus on her own work,
Marlene had private classes with students with autism, which was challenging, but art was a great outlet for them. Marlene refers with pride and satisfaction to one student in particular, Laurie Finck. Marlene says, “how special art is for him.” Her enthusiasm is obvious as she shows me samples of his work: a painting with all sides of a block of wood covered, and another with matching abstract figures. His artwork reminds me of a blend of Paul Klee and Picasso. Marlene has put together three of his art shows--at the Craig Gallery, and at the Bridgewater and Woodlawn libraries.
Also in Marlene`s studio are her drawings --nude figures that almost want to stretch and stand up--they look so lifelike with the light and shadows making them sculptural and almost three-dimensional.
Other drawings are inspired by Marlene`s beachcombing: by her collection of whale bones: ribs, scapula, and vertebrae. You will have a chance to see Marlene York`s work in a group show at The MacDonald House starting July 6 and at the Surfside Studio Tour in September. Meanwhile check out her website: SeaforthStudio.com.
