I'm an artist and excogitator. My art is available for sale and I do accept commissions.
Why I make art: I have a fascination with color, light, space, shape, movement, and the creative process. I’m always learning to look and learning to see. I love expressing my life experience through abstract expression. This best describes why I make art. I’m an inspired eclectic.
Background: I inherited the motivation to paint and draw from my mother, who was an art student. I also had ancestors, many whom were painters and designers. As a child I drew and painted. I moved on to cartooning and illustration in middle school in Rome, Italy. Back in California, I majored in art at Humboldt State University, graduating in 1973.
I entered the Peace Corps in 1973 and served in Guatemala until 1977. I continued to sketch and draw in an environment rich in color and experience. My assignment included developing educational illustrations and cartoons.
After the Peace Corps, I went on to graduate school at UMass in Amherst, Massachusetts, majoring in nonformal international education. This led me to work in Lesotho, in Southern Africa, with a local community education organization.
I retired from a 30-year career with the University of California in 2011. I’m now back to excogitating: creating art full time.
I'm a Featured Artist at Gallery 113 for the months of December and January, 2020. A selection of my paintings are hanging in the gallery’s mezzanine. Stop by tonight Thursday, January 2 from 5-8 PM for the show’s reception. There will be refreshments. The gallery is open daily from 11AM-5PM daily.
****My painting:Ain't afraid of no ghost won first prize in the Goleta Old Town Association show themed: Alebrijes:Embrace the Fantastic
The show is located in Old Town Coffee
5877 Hollister Ave. in Goleta. The show runs through November 4th.
Nature Abstracted at the Wilding Gallery in Solvang: I have two pieces that were selected for this pioneering show- the first abstract show at The Wilding. The show runs through February 4th, 2019. For details: http://www.wildlingmuseum.org/current
I also have two pieces that were selected for the Abstract Open IV show at the Channing Peake Gallery. The painting "The Sea at Angles" was selected for an honorable mention. For details see: https://abstractartcollective.com/current-upcoming-exhibitions/). The show opens October 29the and runs through February 21, 2019.
-"Thank you very much-I'm still so happy with "A.P.S." whenever I drive that road, I always have the feeling there is so much more for me to see." -L.G.
Sold
This large piece that I created on with mixed media on Mylar was sold to a private collector. Working on opaque Mylar is a pleasure. It accepts various media and it is very durable. It also stores easily.
Stay tuned: I will be letting you in on my promotions and discounts.
My new photo essay, "Witness to a Dream/Testigo a un Sueño is about to released in book format. The photos describe the time I spent with an agricultural cooperative in El Salvador in 1976-'77. Copies will be available for purchase.
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A. Michael Marzolla is a Santa Barbara, California-based artist whose work ranges from the surreal to the abstract. He works on canvas, paper, or stone, which makes me a painter, illustrator, printmaker and sculptor.
Michael was born in Oakland, CA. and spent his early childhood in the Bay Area. In 1958, his family moved to Rome, Italy, which inspired his artistic endeavors at an early age. He returned to the States in 1962, and attended high school in Long Beach, CA., where he became the cartoonist and illustrator for the school newspaper.
After high school, Michael served in the US Coast Guard, and then majored in art at Humboldt State University, where he studied under Jim Anderson, Leslie Price and Stephen Daley. He graduated in 1973, with a degree in Fine Arts.
He served in the Peace Corps from 1973 to 1977, in Guatemala, Central America. Michael’s assignment included developing educational illustrations and cartoons. After the Peace Corps, he attended graduate school at UMass in Amherst, Massachusetts, and majored in non-formal international education.
He then worked in Lesotho, Southern Africa with a local community education organization and his assignment included the training of the organization’s local artist/illustrator team. Michael has lived in Santa Barbara since 1983. Michael had a 30 year career as an educator with the University of California.
He is now focused on painting, drawing and photography. He exhibits with the Santa Barbara Art Association, the Abstract Art Collective and the Santa Barbara Sculpture Guild.
Michael Marzolla has won recognition and awards for his work at various shows and exhibitions locally and nationally, such as a first prize in the Goleta Arts Festival, honorable mention at the Channing Peake Gallery, as well as honorable mentions at the Art at the Jewish Community Center and the Faulkner Gallery SEE benefit. He has held various commissions throughout his career, most recently for the University of South Florida and the US Naval Base on San Nicolas Island.
His work has been exhibited in commercial galleries and in private collections in the United States, Asia and Europe. His work is shown at the WACO Gallery in Eureka, California, Gallery 113 and The Voice Gallery in Santa Barbara, and at the Carpinteria Art Center Gallery in Carpinteria, California, and the Dan Weldon Gallery in Sag Harbor, New York.
I create art inspired by my life experience, informed by my travels, historical and current events and to record and express my fascination with the play of space, color, line, shape and movement. My work ranges from the abstract exploration of color, shape and line to the surreal, I blend various styles to create work that challenges the viewer to
pause and reflect on my creations. To create my works, I work on canvas, paper, or stone, which makes me a painter, illustrator, printmaker and sculptor. I start by deciding what I want to express, drawing on an memory,
an image or event that inspires me. I've been influenced and inspired by classic artist such as Honeré Daumier and Goya, and contemporary artists such as Phillip Gaston, Richard Diebenkorn and the Colorfield School, including Peter Bradley. I create art to express and explore my experience of life though whimsy, humor drawing through
a critical eye.
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Visitors are welcome. Please email or message me for an appointment.
Santa Barbara, CA , USA
Open by appointment only
I'm on Facebook at:
Excogitation Services/Marzozart
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