Marcie Soderman-Olson

 

WARM Mentor Statement

Motto for mentoring protegees: “I don’t believe in giving up.”

Having the privilege of being a WARM Mentor over the past two cycles has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my life.

As an artist, it is one of life’s great opportunities for artistic exchange and enrichment.   It’s a mutual journey of continued discovery and development as artists and human beings.

I learn from participating in the development of the protégées, and gain as much from it as I hope that I give.  At the same time, it affords me the opportunity to continue my lifelong work in supporting women artists, who are an under-recognized and under-supported group.

As I draw on my years of training, and experience as an exhibiting, professional artist, I guide my protégées to develop their own unique artistic voice and to have confidence in it.  I try to provide direction for them in a way that will speed up their progress, hoping to shortcut some of the hurdles that I have had to overcome, especially self-limiting ones.

My approach to working with protégées is to expect complete commitment and dedication to themselves as artists and to their role as protégées in WARM, to provide strong encouragement by pointing out what is compelling and convincing in their work, yet frame it within candid feedback, being equally clear about what does not yet work visually and conceptually.  Critiques should never be cruel putting-down, yet honesty is integral to mentor-protégée relationships.  Glossing over weaknesses in the work is unconstructive, does not foster artistic growth, yet phrasing through questions rather than ‘fixing’ the work makes the relationship positive and constructive.

At the same time, it is important to convey a clear understanding with the protégée that her role is to discover and develop her own artistic voice, not to emulate or ‘work in my style.’   If I do not relate readily to their interests, it’s important to acknowledge that I may have little to give them and to point them in the direction of other mentors in the program.   At times, I do not have answers and it is important to connect them with another WARM artist, or artist in the Twin Cities community who can help with an idea, solution, or contact.  In a sense, I see the mentor’s role as a conduit to enhance the growth and development of WARM art protégées.

I have taught art and art history on a college level since 1987.  Yet college teaching rarely equals the sharing of the joy-in-art-making one experiences in one-to-one mentoring relationships.  I hope that I can continue to serve as a mentor.  What a gift, indeed, it is to be part of the WARM Mentor-Protégée Program!

Biography

Art making, art education, art history, and women in art have been the exclusive focus of my 30-year career.

A professional painter exhibiting on a regular basis, WARM Mentor since 2008, project director for the Art at 2402 Gallery, Hamline University adjunct faculty, and former museum educator, I have over twenty years’ experience as a college instructor of painting and drawing, modern and contemporary art history, and women in art.  I have also served as an artist-in-residence in 20+ St. Paul Schools.  As a result I have had the joy of sharing my love of art with all age groups.

Artist Statement – June 2010

I am a painter working in acrylic, watercolor and oil. My work has associations with landscape, as visual metaphors for states of mind. I paint abstract images and abstracted landscapes, working in both very large and very small formats.

The branching of trees, synaptic impulses, water lapping the shore, the constant beating of the human heart.  It all speaks of life.  Pattern, repetition, and change.  The microscopic and macroscopic echo each other remarkably in movement and form, in the gathering of force and the dissolution of form, in the replication of these over and over.  Perhaps the act of drawing and painting–mark-making–is a process imitative of life.

Water is fundamental to my personal sense of freedom, having been born/raised on the Atlantic.  Although ‘distillations’ of Lake Superior, and regional lakes and rivers are often subjects, one of my most frequent topics is Iguaçu Falls, South America, which we visited in December 2003.   It has become a metaphor for me for our urgent environmental crisis.  As an artist involved in the “Women and Water Rights” Project, I intend to continue to express our global urgency through my work.

Iguaçu Falls Series of Paintings (2009-2010):

Iguaçu Falls (also spelled Iguazu, Iguassu) is higher than Niagra Falls and the widest series of waterfalls in the world.  It lies at the confluence of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Magnificent to experience at full force, with rainbows in every direction and thunderous sound, it feels as if it will swallow you up.

Global warming has taken its toll (excerpt from May 08, 2009):
“Brazil Drought Staunches Famed Iguazu Falls”
Only a third of the usual volume of water
Is now flowing over the top of the stunning falls…
At the foot of the falls on the Brazilian side,
the bottom of the Parana river is now clearly
visible, allowing environmentalists a rare
chance to clean up mountains of accumulated
trash…most has been dropped by tourists.”
http://water-is-life.blogspot.com/2009/05/brazil-drought-staunched-famed-iguazu.html
Brazil is now suffering too much rain.  Rio de Janeiro has disastrous landslides in its poorest areas. A delicate balance seems unlikely with global warming causing climactic extremes worldwide.