Marika Bryant is a local artist living on the northern coast of NSW, with her soul mate (and muse) Peter Webster, who she credits for affording her the “space, music, safety net, financial support and never ending driving all-over-the-shop that it takes to survive as an artist in paradise.”
As a mature-aged student Marika attended the Southern Cross University acquiring a Bachelor of Visual Arts, majoring in painting and ceramics. Whilst at university Marika also had the opportunity to attend Pratt Art College, Manhattan as an exchange student, at precisely the time that President Bush decided to give Iraq 48 hours to come up with “their weapons of mass destruction”. This was an amazing (as well as a wake-up) time for Marika as she witnessed, first hand, the machinations of an empire about to go awry.
Now working as an abstract expressionist artist, many of Marika’s works reflect an environmental, ecological and humanistic viewpoint. “Art is all about communication – writing with paint and colour – trying to elicit an emotion or reaction that might trigger action on behalf of the viewer. When one becomes aware of one’s own power within the world, great changes can be achieved – as long as we have the courage to take the first step……”
Poetry plays a major role in Marika’s art practice, as she embeds words (either the whole poem or parts thereof) into her artwork. Sometimes hidden or obscured, perhaps a reflection of where she’s been, her poetry is often representational of where she would like to visit, or where she would like to guide others. Her artistic narrative coupled with poems endeavour to inspire and heal, on a world-wide scale. Marika’s “One Metre Rule” poem came about after her exchange program at Pratt.
Having taken part in several anti-war marches, and witnessing first hand the crestfallen American public (marching in a 120,000-strong protest through Times Square alongside old, young, black, white, red, yellow, multi-coloured, pregnant, handicapped singing “war, what is it good for, absolutely nothing”), Marika felt compelled to write her own personal credo, hoping to make a difference within her own one metre. “If everyone took care of their own personal one metre surround, there would be no wars, violence, environmental rape or indifference…”, Marika suggests.
Marika admits, “I am a ‘process worker’, learning and creating from a ‘painterly’ continuous process, letting the brush, palette knife, paint, textures, layering, scratching back, over-painting, sculpting by adding beads or objects, tearing, sewing and collage to form the finished painting.”
Excited by the richness of texture, colour, light and movement, Marika endeavours to create works that don’t state the obvious, but by doing so, somehow state the obvious. “I tend to ‘hide’ a lot of memories and ideals inside my art, reflections of the past or what is currently affecting me in the outside world. I guess it must be a statement of my own existence – a measure of my own time upon this planet and a foothold in the now.”
“I love to breathe life into a painting, hoping to inspire the viewer to spend a little longer in front of one of my works. My painting is an emotional endeavour to create a visual that in turn creates an emotion. I aspire to be a communicator. I hope to make a difference.”
“If I can inspire others to become more creative and to breathe in their environment, embracing their uniqueness in this world, being accountable for their place in their own space, lending a helping hand or a giving a leg-up to other emerging, struggling, hopeful artists, then my job here is done……”
You can visit Marika’s website at: www.marikabryant.com
Read the full article in the Artist Profile in Vol 1 Issue 26
