Marisa Robinson was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Her mother was a Bolivian knit designer who created exquisite colorful works, and her spirit lives vibrantly in Marisa’s vivid mixed-media paintings. Her father was from Philly, and when Marisa was a year old, the family moved to Houston, Texas. Over her life, Marisa has lived in nearly every Latin American capitol, Europe, across the United States, and finally, Evergreen. Marisa’s mother was her earliest inspiration and influence, who passed down her deep passions for travel, collecting art and creating.
I met Marisa at the Center for the Arts opening exhibition for their latest series, Oh The Places You’ll Go, where she found me in the corner admiring her piece. A joyous multimedia cacophony of lively greens, deep browns and blues, textured wool foliage and soft parchment paper tree trunks, the piece has a certain depth and weight that drew me all the way into the furthest trees at the back of the scene. Marisa explained that the painting was inspired by a photo she took at Olympic National Park. She has a second painting—a cousin to the first—in a corner of her living room. When I visited her home for an interview, we sat on her couch chatting about rituals, art classes, folk art and the impressionists, but my eye was continually drawn back to her Olympic painting. It is lit by a small wall lamp; though despite that, the piece seems to glow of its own accord. She told me that even if someone really wanted to buy it, she’ll never sell this second Olympic NP painting because it’s her husband’s favorite.
“My goal is to capture someone and bring them into my scene.”
Professionally, Marisa was an interior designer, and she owned her own company for 25 years before retiring. Creating environments for her clients made her very aware of ways to invoke certain moods. She says, “In my paintings, I’m using principles of line, harmony and color to make the viewer feel a certain way—just as I would do in an interior design.”
When asked about her taste in art and interior design, Marisa said, with a dry sarcasm that I loved immediately: “Obviously I like color.” Her paintings are all about color first and subject second. When studying a potential subject, whether it be a plein air scene or a photograph she took on a trip, she likes to zero in on one or two colors that are really talking to her. Colors offer emotional cues, she explained; they send subliminal messages of relaxation, excitement, misery, joy, comfort, or anything else. Once the emotionality of the color palette becomes clear, the subject follows.
This wasn’t the only time Marisa talked about painting in terms of conversation. She also talked about the intimate experience of a silent studio, a palette of big-personality paints, and the meditative state of experimentation as “talking back and forth with the canvas.” She describes a sense of “oneness” with the canvas, as if she has entered her own little capsule and a feeling of expressing the paints “correctly.” I asked her if she ever has trouble accessing that meditative zone, and she nodded, of course. “In unhappy moments, I just quit,” she told me. “You’ll never make any good progress when you’re frustrated.” Classes help force Marisa to stop ruminating on details. There’s deadlines. This practice of letting go is also teaching her how to paint with a little more spontaneity and freedom. Lately, she’s been focusing on contemporary techniques, hoping to achieve more expressive and abstract foliage. She loves that contemporary art focuses on emotional experience or story, rather than capturing a subject with factual precision. To me, this seems like a very natural evolution, considering her interest in the impressionist and expressionist movements. “My goal is to capture someone and bring them into my scene,” she explained, and I understood her meaning of “scene” to include both the literal environment and the emotional, sensory experience.
Marisa first began painting in high school, when she spent two years training with a private teacher while studying in Ecuador. After that, she spent time taking classes at different universities and has continued to maintain her preferred student status throughout her life. She takes regular classes at the Art Students League of Denver, transporting her canvases (and her dog, Cucho) back and forth from her studio to the classrooms. Recently, she’s been working with instructor Sandra Kaplan.
Marisa has officially been in Evergreen for 32 years, and it’s truly become home. She built her house with her husband, and it’s an absolute feast for the senses. Packed with art, both her own and from around the world, each room is filled with corners of handmade crafts that bring every curve and edge of the house to life. Marisa occasionally opens up her home studio for Art Parties, inviting friends and peers into her studio to explore her collection. This, among the occasional Center for the Arts showcase, is one of the only ways Marisa sells her work.
If you’re interested in learning more about Marisa and her vibrant painting, visit her on Facebook at @Marisa Geddling Robinson. Stay tuned for her work at CAE or the Art Students League of Denver!
