Santa Barbara artist Marie Schoeff explores a profound yet unpretentious relationship with nature and spirituality in
a new exhibition at the 蜜桃传媒 Ridley-Tree Museum of Art from Jan. 13-March 26. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, there will not be an opening
reception for 鈥淢arie Schoeff: Amplifying the Between."
Schoeff鈥檚 imagery, rooted in drawing, explores the ethereal, a transcendent space
in a spiritual realm. Her strong sense of physical place creates a unique attachment
to lines of latitude and longitude where one spends significant time. She studied
art on both the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts, and has lived and worked in Santa Barbara
for nearly four decades.
鈥淢arie relies on attentive study of the actual world,鈥� says Judy L. Larson, R. Anthony
Askew professor of art history and museum director. 鈥淗er artistic processes create
an amplification of commonplace experiences that transport the viewer between earthly
and intangible realms.鈥�
Schoeff, a native of Moscow, Idaho, graduated from Cal State Sacramento and earned
a Master of Fine Arts in painting/drawing at Hunter College in New York City. In 1983,
she and her husband, Dane Goodman, moved to Santa Barbara, where she taught art at
UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College and 蜜桃传媒.
Beginning in the late 1990s, Schoeff鈥檚 work shifted from landscapes to iconic female
forms using sensual color, rounded shapes, and flowerlike bodies. Drawing the female
body was also a very personal response to raising her young daughter. Another major
influence at this time was Schoeff鈥檚 immersion into the writings of Carl Jung and
his theories on archetypes, dreams, symbolism, and the collective unconscious. 鈥淚
respond particularly to Jung鈥檚 premise that humans are innately image-makers,鈥� she
says. 鈥淢y studies of Jung鈥檚 work encouraged me to pursue my own pictorial language,
with faith in its ability to connect to others on a more primal level. I see my lines
and forms as stand-ins for the female body and references to universal experience.
Female forms in my work echo my reflections on being a woman, a mother, and a daughter.
Drawing for me is a meditative process, an amplification of the between, the linking
of the ordinary with the spiritual. I suppose my work traces my life experience.鈥�
In the early 2000s, Schoeff experimented with printmaking, resulting in a group of
large-scale monotype and drypoint prints.
鈥淎mplifying the Between鈥� features a selection of her recent multi-sheet prints and
other works that were begun in 2014 and completed during one of seven summer residencies
that Schoeff organized with fellow artists, Linda Ekstrom and Linda Foster.
鈥淢arie鈥檚 imagery reveals beauty 鈥� humble truths that make us, the viewers, feel encouraged
or gratified,鈥� Larson says.
The museum is open weekdays from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.
Admission is free. For more information, please call the museum at (805) 565-6162
or visit westmont.edu/museum. Guests will be required to wear face masks while inside
the museum. If you are experiencing any of COVID-19 symptoms, please do not visit
the museum.