Born in 1943 in Whiteville, North Carolina, Willie Marlowe received her B.S. from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, followed by an M.F.A. from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. During the summer of 1964, while still an undergraduate, she continued her art studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia under the tutelage of renowned artists Francis Speight and Roswell Weidner.
Willie Marlowe is best known for her small, intimate acrylic and mixed media work on paper. These luminous, brilliantly colored pieces are reminiscent of looking through a microscope at an entirely new, miniscule living world. Marlowe makes playful use of geometric and organic shapes and symbols, all of which reflect her interest in botany, marine life, Celtic culture and the archaeology of Europe, the Yucaton and Russia. She was an artist-in-residence in Barbados, West Indies; Cortona, Italy; Wexford, Ireland; the Millay Colony for the Arts in Austerlitz, New York; and at the Cill Rialaig Project in Ballinskelligs, Ireland. These extensive travels and experiences have each added to her unique and growing iconography.
For over twenty years, Marlowe has taught painting and drawing classes at the Sage College of Albany in Albany, New York. She also taught watercolor classes in two of the Sage Colleges’ international studies programs, as well as in Scotland and Ireland. Willie Marlowe has an extensive national and international exhibition record, including a 10-year Retrospective Exhibition at the Wexford Arts Center in Wexford, Ireland. Her work can be found in numerous museum, corporate and private collections throughout the United States including those of The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; The Boston Public Library; and The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC. For more information on Willie Marlowe, please read her vitae.
