Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Marks.
Hi Monica, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Much like other artist stories, I have always known I would be in the art field doing art in some manner. In my middle school art class, our first assignment was to draw what we wanted to do when we grew up, and I drew a building with a big sign that said, “Hallmark and Rickler” (Rickler is my maiden name) on it.
Right out of high school, I went to CSUN (Cal State University, Northridge) for my art degree. I focused primarily on graphic design since I figured that was how I would be able to support myself, but I thoroughly enjoyed every art class I took there in every form they offered. I loved the graphics, and the sculpture, and the painting and drawing, all of it. In my (what I thought was going to be) my last year at CSUN, I took a class in Art Therapy and fell in love with the idea of using art for healing. I stayed an extra year to take prerequisites and then went on to get my graduate degree in Marital and Family Therapy with a specialization in Art Therapy. I still continued creating my own art, and the influence of art therapy encouraged me to express my own emotional issues through my art process. This was the beginning of finding my artist’s voice.
I got married after graduate school and continued submitting to local galleries and nonprofit organizations. Then, in 2009, I stopped doing art and focused on my family’s business (running the clinical department of a special ed school) and my children’s needs. For ten years, I focused my attention in those two areas and did no art other than using and training others in Art Therapy.
In 2019 we built a little studio in our backyard, and I was able to return to creating my own artwork. The content of my art comes from my experience working in the mental health field, personal experiences with mental illness in my family and myself, and of having a son on the spectrum and a daughter who is medically complex. My upcoming solo show addresses the topic of hidden disabilities both physical and mental, and of erasing the stigma of mental illness. This is my very first solo show (through Shoebox Projects) and it amazes me that I have the opportunity to do it.
Turning 56 this year, I call myself a “re-emerging” artist. Having others see my art, and hoping that they feel seen and relate to it in some way, motivates me to keep getting my artwork out there. I feel new and old at the same time, but mostly I am just grateful to be able to do the art I knew I was always meant to do.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Not having the space, literally and emotionally, to create art between 2009 and 2019, that was the greatest struggle; then perhaps facing my fears of returning, feeling like perhaps I wouldn’t be able to do art anymore. Maybe I “lost it.” The times I’ve struggled the most are when I’ve had the most self-doubt. A byproduct of having depression and anxiety is self-doubt, which it then feeds on to grow. It can spiral into a paralyzing force, darkening everything its sight.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work is primarily mixed media collage and assemblage, utilizing both objects I create out of clay and many found objects. I especially love rusted objects for their sense of history and past lives.
I’m known for both the unique look of my art and my themes of disability, women’s issues, invisible disabilities, and Judaism and the Holocaust, social justice issues.
I am most proud of being authentic in my art and addressing issues that people don’t usually talk about. For example, it has been taboo to be open about emotional issues and mental illness and about asking for help, and I am not afraid to discuss that through my art and writing. I want my art to be accessible and understood but also open to personal interpretation, to reflect what people are hiding and don’t feel safe to share. I aim to disable the structure and stigma that prevents people from being safe to share who they really are.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
In the 1970’s there was a restaurant in Marina Del Rey called CASTAGNOLA’S LOBSTER HOUSE. The interior was decorated in dark woods and velvet, and the menu was printed on parchment. Every year on my birthday my parents would take me there. This was the fanciest restaurant I’d ever been to, and, in my little head, assumed it was the fanciest restaurant in the city. We would all get dressed up, and I could pick my favorite fancy dress to wear. I always ordered the same thing; shrimp cocktail to start, a Shirley Temple to drink (with a cherry!), and, of course, lobster. Then, of course, a round of Happy Birthday with an ice cream sundae in a round glass dish. I always felt glamorous and like a princess and looked forward to it every year.
Pricing:
- The average price for 12×12 collages are $400
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.monicamarksart.com
- Instagram: monicamarksart
- Facebook: monicamarksart
Image Credits:
Todd Marks Monica Marks Tony Pinto
