If the words “nothin’ much” sprang to mind as a response to the query above, then we are on the same page. 

That said, knowing nothing about a particular subject is 

A: Humbling (go figure!),

B: Stimulating and

C: One of the many reasons that I love my job.

It is that combination, and the permutations that go with it, that drive me to learn new things, meet new people, and keep me interested in the world around us—a world that is filled with beauty, mystery and a lot of unknowns. 

With all that in mind, I jumped at the chance to meet up with artist Marjorie Morrow last weekend, in advance of her newest exhibit, which is currently on display at Domesticities and the Cutting Garden, located at 4055 Rte. 52 in Youngsville, NY. 

Since I know little about the artist herself, I first went to her website and learned that “Marjorie Morrow is an abstract painter who resides in NY’s Upper Delaware River Valley, relocating her studio there permanently in 2018 after fifty years in Manhattan.”

And this: “A graduate of Miami University, with a BFA in painting and printmaking, she participated, under visiting artist Richard Anuszkiewicz, at the first Blossom-Kent art program in Cleveland, OH. She has exhibited her paintings and prints since 1968.”

Armed with this information and little else, I sat down with Morrow and peppered her with questions to learn more, after making it clear that I know nothing whatsoever about abstract painting, save for the fact that it exists. 

JCF: Why are we here today?

MM: I’m happy to have a showing of some of my small pieces, which have not been seen before, because I [mostly show] large-scale works, and these represent paintings I’ve done over the past 20 years or more. 

When I came up here from the city, it was beautiful, and the light changed constantly. I was an abstract painter, but I couldn’t resist the landscape. I landed in New York City when I was 21 and was there for more than 20 years before I had a place in the country. It was then I found myself looking at a tree line, or a cornfield, or the sky. We [Marjorie and musician husband Alan “The Gator” Freedman] only have two acres, but we’re lucky that it’s open on all sides. 

JCF: So, the title of your exhibit, “The Abstracted Landscape—From the Vault,” refers to the years represented here today?

MM: I’ve been painting for more than 50 years. It might sound sort of creepy, but it’s my “vault” of work, dating back about 20 years. 2007 might be the earliest one on display here. An exception would be the two most recent paintings—“Catskill Morning” and Catskills Evening”—which are just two years old. 

JCF: [laughing] Oh, I don’t know about “creepy,” but it telegraphs what you are describing. So, is there a theme wrapped around this exhibit?

MM: As an abstract painter, I work with the actual landscape and it becomes abstract. 

As an example, Morrow pointed out two paintings hanging side-by-side in the gallery space.

MM: I work on flat, un-stretched canvas, so that I can go right to the edge with different techniques. That way I can end up stretching it around the frame. So I was working on this yellow piece in the evening in my studio, and then the next morning, I got up and said, “Wow, that looks like what I was just painting,” so I went downstairs and kept working on it. I was so excited about it I posted it on Facebook and within the hour, a painter from Pennsylvania reached out to say “Did you just do this? Because it looks just like what’s outside my window.” 

At the same time, I was working on the [adjacent] blue piece, just from my head, and my friend Valerie Mansi posted a response echoing the same sentiment—that it looked like the view from her home [on Lake Jeff]. Both represented very similar views, each being observed by different people, in different places, all at the same time. 

JCF: I love that, because it means your paintings are speaking to people on a very personal level.

MM: Yes, and even though that one is called “Catskill Evening,” I couldn’t resist adding the parenthetical title “Valerie’s View.” She doesn’t know that yet. 

JCF: So forgive my ignorance and indulge me, please. Can you explain what abstract painting really is all about? I have the good fortune to write about art, but it’s strictly from a layman’s point of view. That doesn’t mean I know anything about it.

MM: Well, it’s not non-objective, which means “no subject” at all. In painting the abstracted landscape, I’m looking at something real, but not trying to reproduce what I’m seeing in the literal sense. In fact, I don’t even want to. I might see a cloud, or fog or a mountain and just do a kind of interpretive representation of what I’m looking at. I also love color, so I’m always looking at it from that standpoint as well. 

JCF: By “interpretive,” do you mean that you’re painting based on the emotion or feeling that you get when looking at these natural landscapes?

MM: Yes, exactly. Sometimes my pieces have been called “emotional landscapes,” and that is what I do. I paint what’s in my life and that [encompasses] the natural landscape, or cultural landscape, or political landscape. 

JCF: “Political landscape.” How does that work?

MM: In my last show here at Domesticities, I had a piece called “Freedom Bleed,” which was red, white and blue, which is dripping, or bleeding, as a statement of what’s going on in the country at present. My husband, Alan, even took that title for himself and used the piece for his politically-based album of songs based on the same theme.

My time with Morrow flew by as we discussed art, nature, perspective and the meaning of life in the Upper Delaware River region. We chatted about family, art history and everything in-between. As a final question, I dared to ask the simplistic: “How does art fulfill you as a person?”

MM: [Pausing to ponder] Gee. I know that I’m a painter, and I sometimes question how can we live without art? My brother once said “you’re so lucky that you have a way to express your feelings.” When I was in college, I explored several career paths, but I feel lucky that I was able to gravitate towards what I really wanted to be. An artist. 

And that she is. I learned a lot that afternoon, including the fact that Marjorie Morrow is (IMHO) an accomplished artist and has produced a vast body of work. 

Never one to rest on her laurels, Morrow continues to explore the natural world around her with abstract wonder, sharing her particular view of that world with the rest of us, who are happily along for the ride. 

To learn more, check out her current exhibit in Youngsville, and to see more of this prolific painter’s catalogue of work, go to www.marjoriemorrow.com. 

Wondering about the Delaware Valley Opera gala, held last Saturday? Watch this space!