Local Folks: Marsha Glazière

In a recent interview sponsored by Fogle Art Consulting to promote her new book, “My Father, Picasso, and Me,” Avondale resident Marsha Glazière mentioned that artist Robert Rauschenberg said, “Painting is the best way I’ve found to get along with myself.” In Glazière’s case, that would include not only painting but sculpting, environmental activism, political commentary, teaching and writing.

“My Father, Picasso, and Me: An Artist’s Journey of Resilience” includes photos of her work and myriad endeavors and recounts her “brilliant, complicated, and domineering” father’s influence through his dislike of Picasso.

Glazière, an internationally recognized artist, was considered the “class artist” since third grade, although she did not consider herself an artist until graduating from the University of Illinois and working on master’s programs at Yale, Stanford, and Washington School of Medicine. Glazière also studied modern dance, the influence of which is evident in the fluidity of her sculptures.

Presently, her work has featured in more than 150 exhibits in galleries, museums and universities around the world. Locally, that includes the Wilson Center for the Arts, FSCJ, Leigh Fogle Gallery and MOCA Jacksonville. She is the recipient of numerous grants, has held academic positions nationwide and taught at Florida International University and the University of North Florida.

Glazière grew up in Miami. A “rather bold child,” Glazière said she frequently stole crayons to have all the colors with sharp points. In addition to swiping crayons, she also took her parents’ car at age 13. She has always been “gutsy:” Within a month of graduating college, she married, moved to Seattle, had two children and divorced before returning to Jacksonville. After ping-ponging between Seattle and Jacksonville a few more times, Glazière setttled in Jacksonville and moved into her brother’s house where she bartered artwork for rent.

A fateful trip to Big Talbot Island inspired her artistically.

“My work really exploded when I saw that,” she said. “I don’t like to lump myself into an artistic category.”

Preferring to avoid classifying herself within one particular artistic category, Glazière explained that she taught figure drawing but is not as focused on the figure as she once was. One of her mixed media horse pieces began as a landscape then “the horse developed.” Her book offers insight into her personal views and artistic process.

Several of Glazière’s commissioned works can be seen locally, including the sculpted architectural friezes at The Bolles School, and “Heading for Home,” a life-sized bronze statue of a baseball player at James P. Small Park to honor the Negro Baseball League. Glazière was also commissioned to create a painting for the 20th anniversary of Olympic gold medalist Nancy Hogshead-Maker’s achievements.

Some of Glazière’s dynamic Jacksonville bridge paintings were on display at Office Images in San Marco where cheerful supporters gathered to meet with her and discuss her book. Some of her work is featured with the Women Writing for A Change exhibit at FSCJ until July 17 and is featured in “Metamorphosis: Then and Now Anthology,” the sixth volume of Women Writing for a Change’s “(A) River Rising: Anthology of Women’s Voices.”

Glazière described her approach to her creations as “somewhat representational [and] interpretive: not abstract but not bound by the realism of the subject.” Her intricate, dynamic paintings include layers of mixed media embellishments which create depth, enhance the visual impact, embrace the beauty of the world, and make powerful statements concerning environmental and social issues.

The personal reflections in her memoir give insight into the creative spirit and philosophy of this multi-talented woman as she explores her life, her art, and the influences of her father. As she wrote in her book, “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my art will sustain me. It always has.”