Marianne Fairbank Partlow
Marianne Fairbank Partlow has had a passion for art history and the practice of fine arts all her adult life. She holds a BA in Art History from Cornell University and an MA in Art History from the University of Virginia. Further, she spent a year studying at L'Ecole du Louvre and La Sorbonne in Paris. She ran three fine art galleries in Washington D.C., Vancouver, B.C. Canada, and her own Marianne Partlow Gallery in Olympia, Washington. In 1992, after the closing of the Partlow Gallery she turned her attention to her own art and studied a variety of painting and printmaking media with practicing artists including Stephen Quiller, Carol Riley, Jonelle Johnson, Gary Faigin, and Sondra Freckelton. She also worked as a consulting museum curator. She has been recognized in national competitions for her white line woodcuts and has exhibited her paintings and pastels regionally at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts and Childhood's End Gallery in Olympia, Washington. She has taught watercolor and art history at the college level.
As a founding member of the City of Olympia Arts Commission, a board member of Artist Trust and other art executive boards, she has worked actively for the development of the visual arts in the Pacific Northwest. To sustain her interest in Art History she has also received her designation as an Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers in 19th and 20th century Northwest, American, Canadian and European Art.
Her most recent works are pastel paintings that concentrate on pattern and contrast with an emphasis on natural subjects. They are inspired by the flora and the coastal landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Partlow tries to imbue inanimate objects with energy and animate objects with form and design. She enjoys manipulating space and creating novel color experiences, sometimes with humorous intent.
As a founding member of the City of Olympia Arts Commission, a board member of Artist Trust and other art executive boards, she has worked actively for the development of the visual arts in the Pacific Northwest. To sustain her interest in Art History she has also received her designation as an Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers in 19th and 20th century Northwest, American, Canadian and European Art.
Her most recent works are pastel paintings that concentrate on pattern and contrast with an emphasis on natural subjects. They are inspired by the flora and the coastal landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Partlow tries to imbue inanimate objects with energy and animate objects with form and design. She enjoys manipulating space and creating novel color experiences, sometimes with humorous intent.
