Calabi Gallery

Featuring an Eclectic Array of Primarily 20th Century Artwork

Marla Allison

The Sky I Remember by Marla Allison, Gold Leaf and Acrylic on Canvas, 18 x 36

The Squadron by Marla Allison, Acrylic on Canvas, 26 x 24

Art is how you feel, who you are, and comes from the soul. —Marla Allison

Marla Allison is a visual artist producing artwork inspired by traditions, cultural displacement and the human experience. Originally from Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, she is committed to participating in artist residencies that facilitate collaborations with artists from around the world. In her words, “Through the collaboration of artists, free thinkers and open-minded creative people, we can strengthen each other and build greater bridges…no matter where you come from or how you start, if you set a journey to learn, you will inspire and understand the essence of a strong human race.”

Allison maintains a lifestyle committed to travel and participation in cultural exchanges that have yielded lectures, murals, illustrations, and art exhibitions.  Allison has produced art in Chiapas, MX; Bristol, UK; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Manama, Bahrain; Budapest, Hungary; and more locally in the USA in cities such as New York, NY, Providence, RI, Tucson and Phoenix, AZ, parts of California, and all around New Mexico.

Artist Statement

I draw on several different abstract styles found in art history.  The work is based on my own cultures traditional Pueblo pottery designs as well as cubism and futurism.

I was a very quiet child; my paintings are my voice.

My beginnings are raised with traditional beliefs and customs in my ancestral family village, which is in the western desert landscape of New Mexico.  My paintings often reflect the histories, landscapes, and culture of my people as well as life within and outside the reservation. Now living and working in the North Bay area, I am recording and responding to the differences I am seeing and feeling from living on the Laguna Pueblo reservation to the land of Sequoias and San Francisco city life.  I am in a new and unfamiliar place physically and culturally.  There are so many unknowns, but this place is perfect for me as an artist, on the edge of the unknown.  I have so much more to share.

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