Art Exhibit - March 2003 - Marilene Sawaf

"Vanishing to the sound of music"

Meet the artist at an Art Reception on
Sunday, March 9, 2003
from 2-4 p.m. in the main library
Music by "The Three Bobs."* Refreshments.

Artist's Statement

"My first series of women goes back to 1981, after my recent move to New England. "The Ladies" were painted with watercolor or acrylic and inspired by a luminous stained glass window that used to cover an entire wall of my grandmother's home in Egypt. I used to call them the "Stained Glass Ladies". When one of my paintings made it to the juried exhibit of the Currier Art Gallery in 1984, I learned that my fascination with design and colored glass could be shared with a larger public.
Slowly I started introducing new elements, like flowers, in the women's dresses. The women would be dreaming in different settings made of tiled landscapes and diffused vegetation. Staci Milbouer, correspondent of the Nashua Telegraph, said, "Sawaf's dreamlike images show a singular figure of a woman in the foreground, her body formed by a lush flower.... There is a statement being made about her femininity, womanhood and the world of dreams..."
I was finally able to get the rich colors I sought when I moved to oils in 1992. This enabled me to develop a new technique by building layers of color on top of color to create depth, intriguing patterns of flowered materials and a richness of design. "Marilene Sawaf's art is a blend of bright colors and designs taken from the Mediterranean. "Born in Egypt and raised in Italy and Lebanon, she has combined traditional techniques of the countries where she lived to create her style... "...Much of her inspiration for the design in the clothing and background is inspired by Oriental carpets as well as Medieval and Renaissance paintings and designs," said Diane Rietan in her Sunday Telegraph interview of September 1996.
In general I try to create an illusion, painting women in rich patterned dresses, who make you wonder who they are and what they are doing. The design, the position of the women's hands, the intriguing expressions of their faces, the mystery of their environment, create a surrealistic image. A product of my past culture, of my present taste for rich colors and enigmatic effects, my paintings of women are a mysterious reflection of my most subconscious dreams.”

Artist's Biography

Marilene Sawaf received her education in Fine Arts Interior Design and Architecture at Universite Saint Esprit, Kaslik, Lebanon (1974-80) and Art correspondence coursework, ABC School of Fine Arts, Paris (1972-74). She holds memberships in the New Hampshire Art Association [NHAA], the Nashua Area Art Association [NAAA], and the Sharon Art Center. Marilene has held One Woman Exhibits at Stevens Memorial Library, North Andover, MA, Memorial Hall Library, Andover, MA, the Nashua Public Library, the Design Center, Hollis, NH, and at Ground Floor exhibition space, Hollis, NH.

She has participated in over 70 Juried Shows and Exhibits since 1983, most recently in a Members Exhibit at the Sharon Art Center in Peterborough, NH, a Winter juried Art show at the Lawrence Heritage State Park, Lawrence, MA, and Juried Exhibit, 3rd place oils, Daniel Webster College Auditorium Gallery, Nashua, NH.

Other shows include:

Fifty forth Annual Juried Exhibit, New Hampshire Art Association, Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester NH

Champagne Art Auction, Nashua Symphony Association & Nashua Area Artist Association, Nashua, NH

IN AND OUT OF THE GARDEN, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH

RED, Invitational Collective Exhibit, ART 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH

16th Annual Omer T. Lassonde Memorial, Juried Exhibit, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH

WATER WORKS, Invitational Collective Exhibit, ART 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH

Greeley Park Art Show. Second place, mixed media.Nashua,NH

Andover Art in thePark exhibit,First place, mixed media.Andover,MA

3rd Annual Joan Dunfey Memorial Juried Exhibit, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH

THREE @3.(Glass, Sculpure, Textile), Invitational Collective Exhibit, ART 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH

The Artists Breakfast Club Exhibit. Parish Center for the Arts, Westford,MA

The Artists Breakfast club, Borders Bookstore, Nashua.NH

SMALL WORKS, Invitational Collective Exhibit, ART 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH

Current Galleries
ART 3 GALLERY, Manchester NH
POWERS GALLERY, Acton MA
FRAMER'S MARKET, Bedford NH
LEVY GALLERY, Portsmouth NH
SHARON ART CENTER GALLERY, Peterborough NH
EAST PEARL STREET GALLERY, Nashua NH
INTERIOR BY DESIGN, Manchester,NH