I finally got the interview with Marsha Wooley to happen - it took longer than I expected.

   

  

Thumbnails of paintings by Marsha Wooley

Me: The Prince Street Gallery show appears to be you’re first in New York; how difficult was that to arrange and how long in advance did you have to plan for this show? In what way is the NYC show different than other shows you’ve had around the country?  What were your goals for judging this show was successful?

Marsha: What makes a successful show:  Some people might think that selling out the show makes it successful.  But-I think that the success of the show depends on the intent-and there are numerous reasons.  A few of these include: getting exposure in a new market or region, selling out the show, a handsome show, and instructional or educational show just to name a few.  My goals for the show were to 1. get the exposure in the New York area, 2. see my images from the last 5 or 6 years hang together so I could assess my development and 3. to provide a venue for some of my collectors to see what I have been doing (hoping for a sale and I had 5 paintings go to these collectors).  So  conclusively I would have to affirm that the show was a success because all three goals were met.

Me: Your current gallery in Denver, Robischon, has many strong artists, mostly representational, many with strong elements of landscape painting, particularly of the west.  You work fits in well at the Robischon Gallery, but there are differences in style and approach of a Marsha Wooley painting vs. Wes Hempel (ie: whose landscapes seem to come right out of the 16th Century Dutch painters, or more symbolic – as in Tunnel of Love), Jim Wolford (scenes of Denver, houses and landscapes), Don Stinson (with such paintings as Icy Park at Ouray and Desert Burn), Jim Colbert (no relation to John Colbert – right?) whose work most closely resembles yours. - How do you see your work being different than any other artist in the Robischon gallery?   What is Unique about your work that no other artist (even those who paint in a very similar style and with very similar motifs) shares at Robischon?

Marsha: The influences in my landscape painting are as you so keenly observed Corot-mostly his studies.  An northern Italian group of painters called the Macchiaoli (a few of my favorite artist’s include Govanni Boldini, Giovanni Fattori and Silvestro Lega) The early surveyer/explorer artist’s that went west with the first map makers for the U S government or the railroad surveys (artist’s like: Samuel Seymour, Titian Peale, Albert Bierstadt –his studies, Thomas Moran, Sanford Gifford  and Worthington Whittridge) .  I also admire the William Henry Jackson photos of the west.

I caught Marsha in between her trip to NYC; I had hoped for a fuller interview, maybe that can be done at another time.