ARTIST

An innovation truly unique to Marlene Rose's work is her use of found objects as integral parts of her creations, making each piece both ancient and modern. Each is hand cast from molten glass in a spectacular process of heat and light.

Marlene Rose-Coates was born in New York with art all around her. Her mother was a painter and her father a sculptor of found objects.

Educated at Promfret School in Connecticut, she continued her exploration of visual mediums at Tulane University in New Orleans. Here she came into her own as an artist, developing her unique style. She held her first solo exhibition before graduation, with a sell out show at the top gallery in New Orleans.

Following this success she went on to graduate school at California College of the Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA. She even found time for a Summer Program at Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, Washington, the birthplace and epicenter of the Art Glass Movement. She has since traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East, South America, Africa and the Caribbean gaining even more influences and ideas for her work.

Her goal as an artist is to create life in whatever she makes. In simple terms, she makes the pieces come alive revealing the true and unique source of life energy in each creation.

When people first view my work, I'm often told they feel a "certain aliveness" inherent in the work itself. My goal as an artist to inject life into whatever I make. In simple terms - to make the piece come alive.

Each piece is hand cast from molten glass in a spectacular process of heat and light. The energy of this "Dangerous Dance of Creation" reflects in the finished work.

In the end, the work has a quality of timelessness reflecting both ancient and modern. They celebrate the unique properties of glass, of transparency, and shine and reflection. And because these are cast objects, they hold in their form the memory of the shapes and textures of the materials that formed them; they are fine-grained, rugged or smooth, transparent or translucent, colored or clear.

When I cast the sculptures I include in them relics of modern life, interesting objects that have been cast away, industrial waste items that seem to unite present and past. In the end, the completed piece transcends the sensibility of mere time

The glass immortalizes a glimpse of something fleeting beyond the moment, taking that moment and freezing it over.

I call these pieces Evocators. They are kept moments, shards of what I have seen, unnamed emotions, visions, concepts, memories. They call back; and they are the vehicle on which a viewers vision can ride away.

The glass is there only to see through.

Education

CCAC, Oakland, CA (MFA) 

Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle, WA 

Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 

(B.F.A with Honors, Sculpture/Glass, Newcomb College) 

Pomfret School, Pomfret, CT 

Greenvale School, Glen Head, NY 

Grants

National Endowment of the Arts (2007)

Permanent Public Collection

Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo, FL 

Museum of Contemporary Art, Yerevan, Armenia

Seven Bridges, Greenwich, CT

Museum Shows

Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI                                                                "Primal Inspirations, Contemporary Artifacts" (2011)

MOSI – Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa, FL “Earth Visions” (2010)

Florida International Museum, St. Petersburg, FL “In a New Light” (2009)

Mobile Museum of Art, “GEN-X: Post-Boomers and the New South”, Mobile, AL (2008)

New Mexico Museum of Art, “Flux: Reflections on Contemporary Glass”, Santa Fe, NM (2008)

Gulf Coast Museum of Art, “Ancient and Elemental”, Largo, FL. (2007)

Solo Exhibitions

PISMO Galleries, Aspen, CO (2010)

Hodgell Gallery, Sarasota, FL (2010)

Manitou Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2009)

Kuivato Gallery, Sedona, Az. (2008)

Gallery DeNovo, “Eastern Light” Sun Valley, ID (2008) 

Hawthorn Gallery, Birmingham, AL (2008)

Fay Gold Gallery, “New Works” Atlanta, GA (2007)

Kuivato Gallery, “Buddhas” Sedona, Az. (2007)

Fay Gold Gallery, “Glass Relics” Atlanta, GA (2006)

Gallery DeNovo, “Ancient & Elemental” Sun Valley, ID (2006) 

Hodgell Gallery, “New Works” Sarasota, FL (2005)

Baisden Gallery, “Cultural Blueprints” Tampa, FL (2004)

City Gallery, “Modern Relics” hosted by Kelly Preston, Los Angeles, CA (2002)

New Heights Gallery, “New Works” Tampa, FL (2001)

Gasperi Gallery, “Changing Faces” New Orleans, LA (1990)

Gallery Shows

Adamar Fine Arts Gallery, Miami, FL (2010, 2009, 2007, 2004, 2003, 2002)

Angela King Gallery, New Orleans, LA (2007)

Baisden Gallery, Tampa, FL (2004)

Besharat Gallery, “Onward” Atlanta, GA (2010)

Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC (2008)

CODA Gallery, Palm Desert, CA (2011)

Contessa Gallery, “Glass Menagerie” Cleveland OH (2006)

Denise Roberge, Palm Desert, CA (2005)

Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA (2007)

Habatat Galleries, Annual International Glass Invitational, Royal Oak, MI(*2011, 2010, 2009, 2008) *Award winner

Hanson/King, New Orleans, LA (2005)

Holland House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2006)

Houston Center for Contemporary Art, Houston, TX “Literally Figurative” (2009)

Kuivato Gallery, Sedona, AZ (2007)

Louis Peens, “South African Light” Johannesburg, South Africa (2000)

Manitou Gallery, Sante Fe, NM (2009, 2008, 2007)

Patrica Rozvar Gallery, Seattle, WA (2009, 2008)

Sandra Ainsley, Toronto, Canada (2006)

Swenson Fine Art, Laguna, CA (2010)

Group Exhibitions

Art Miami, Miami, FL (2007, 2006, 2005)

Art Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA (2004)

ARTSanta Fe, Santa Fe, NM (2009, 2008, 2007)

Art Toronto, Toronto, Canada (2005)

ArtDC, Washington DC (2007)

Chicago Contemporary & Classic, Chicago, IL (2005)

Miami International Art Fair (2011, 2010, 2009)

Palm Beach 3, Palm Beach, FL (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007)

SOFA Chicago, Chicago, IL (2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003)

SOFA NY, New York City, NY (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005)

SOFA Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (2010, 2009)

SF Fine Art Fair, San Francisco, CA (2011)