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Interview with Marlys K. Mallet -
Sedona Artist's Painting Selected for Exclusive Sweater
from St. Croix Just arrived
at the Scottsdale Fashion Square location
and also featured in the fall catalog
Marlys K. Mallet at St Croix in
Scottsdale with husband, Michael Redhawk, modeling
the sweater, and another
painting, Toberua,
later placed in a St. Croix window display. Smaller
paintings were arranged among the sweaters in the store.
Recently Ms. Mallet was kind enough to take the
time to share her thoughts with us on the St. Croix
sweater:
SWF: How did your painting come to be selected for
the sweater for St. Croix?
MM: Bruce Amster (promotions for St. Croix) phoned
me, out of the blue, in November 2008.
He, or someone at St Croix, had been researching
images on line to be knit into the 2009 limited edition
'Art Sweater'. With thousands of artists out there
showing abstract works, I felt very honored to have my
image selected. The painting that caught their attention
was a bold, colorful, energized one titled Passport:
Bora Bora . It is one of several of my paintings offered
on line as prints by an International Print Company, Top
Art. (The original painting was a 60"x 80" triptych in
oil which sold several years ago.)
The painting, Passport: Bora Bora,
that St Croix knit into the sweater
A limited edition of four hundred sweaters was knit
and each one was numbered. St Croix stitched my
signature up one side and attached a hang tag on each
sweater with my bio and contact information. They
purchased one of my prints, framed it and hung in the
lobby of their Minnesota manufacturing location to
introduce the image to their store managers and sales
reps.
The sweaters are now featured in 13 St Croix stores
across the country.
They are a light weight blend of silk and cotton,
with the 'painting' reproduced on both the back and the
front and black sleeves.
SWF: The painting is titled, Passport: Bora Bora.
What was the inspiration for the painting, was it travel
to Bora Bora? How does the imagery tie to the name?
MM: I was able to spend a month traveling around the
South Pacific in the 80's with my husband, two young
boys and my wonderful Mother-in-law. I sketched the
Islands and the Natives, painted some small studies and
visited Paul Gauguin's studio. I had an exhibition at
Stanford University of the work several months later. My
painting of the palm covered volcanic mountain in the
center of the island was titled "Bora Bora".
Mallet in the studio
Ten years ago I created a 'Passport Series'. These
were all paintings that invited the viewer to 'travel to
distant ports' from the comfort of their living room.
Most of the canvases were tributes to 'exotic' places
that I had traveled to over the years, including Tibet,
Nepal, Thailand, Morocco, Mexico, Bali and other Islands
around the world. The colors and structures and
movements were reminiscent of the remembered adventures.
Passport: Bora Bora with its high key palette stirs up
memories of the cool turquoise ocean, brilliantly hued
flowers and green foliage. The bold swirling movements
refer to an exciting Island, powerful, exhilarating and
romantic.
(hmmm On a hot AZ day, this sounds good. Maybe I
should go back there!)
SWF: Now that this project has turned out a beautiful
success, might you have any inklings for women’s
fashions?
MM: If I wasn't a one-man-band and if I had time to
do both my art and pursue promotion and other venues, I
probably would look into women's fashions. There just
aren't enough hours in the day so I guess the answer to
your question would be, only if someone finds me, like
St Croix did, then I would relish the opportunity.
Diva, a dynamic figurative painting of
Mallet's
I have hand-painted women's fashions for a store here
in Sedona, but since I chose to make an original design
on each item, it was not profitable for me...obviously!
It was fun but not profitable.
There's a saying, 'Time is short. Art is long'.
Creating original art on canvas to bring beauty into
the lives of others for generations is a pretty awesome
endeavor. However, I think it's a wonderful way to share
fine art by having it reproduced and appreciated on fine
clothing. ♥
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Marlys K. Mallet
Art is a way of life for Marlys. Extensive travels
have broadened her appreciation for the world around her
and have influenced her artwork on many levels. She has
scuba dived and surfed in the Pacific, climbed in the
Himalayas, rafted down the Colorado. Emotional responses
to experiences such as these weave their way into her
abstract expressions.
Education: Burnley School of Professional Art,
Seattle WA
Cornish School of Allied Arts, Seattle WA
John McCrady Art School, New Orleans LA
Audits at Stanford University, Stanford CA
Pacific Art League, Palo Alto CA
www.marlys.org
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Numerous Juried and Invitational exhibits including:
West Valley Art Museum, Nepal Exhibit, Sun City AZ
Centre for International Design, Paramus NY
Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey CA
Casa Grand Museum, Casa Grande NM
Artquest, Los Angeles CA
Crown Zellerbach, San Francisco CA
Marlys’ work is represented in corporate and private
collections including:
Scottsdale Insurance Company, Scottsdale AZ
JMB Realty Corp., Chicago IL
Hewlett_Packard, Sunnyvale CA
Gallerie Jean Lammelin, Paris France
West Coast Life Ins., San Francisco CA
Represented in Sedona by Goldenstein Gallery and
in Las Vegas by Arleccina Gallery |
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As an
abstract artist, my passion is to make the invisible
visible. Realistic painters and photographers base
their images on the real world. I love creating works
of art that add a unique dimension of beauty and mystery
~MARLYS K. MALLET
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