Marianne Bickett

Marianne BickettMarianne BickettMarianne Bickett
  • Home
  • Biography/Events
  • Books/Publications
  • Art Gallery
  • Art/Nature Connections
  • Plastic Pollution
  • Contact Me
  • More
    • Home
    • Biography/Events
    • Books/Publications
    • Art Gallery
    • Art/Nature Connections
    • Plastic Pollution
    • Contact Me

Marianne Bickett

Marianne BickettMarianne BickettMarianne Bickett
  • Home
  • Biography/Events
  • Books/Publications
  • Art Gallery
  • Art/Nature Connections
  • Plastic Pollution
  • Contact Me

All Original art on this page is protected ©2023 Marianne Bickett

What'sNextForEarth Monthly Art Calls

Artist Michele Guieu, created @WNFE on Instagram spring 2020. Join her on Instagram @Michele Guieu for more information. Please visit WhatsNextForEarth.com to see my submissions and learn more!! Thank you to Michele for creating these opportunities for artists to respond to critical environmental issues!! The WNFE Art Calls are entwined with Post Carbon Institute and Think Resilience presentations.

WhatsNextForEarth is part of the Deep Transformation collective for anyone interested in ongoing groups focusing on environmental issues and art making. Please join us every other Tuesday (see schedule on the site).

Fall 2022 Art Call: Community Resilience

Bug Inn

Repurposed wooden cabinet, 2'x3' with assorted natural materials

Whilst we were traveling in England in September, we encountered a few of these

amazing "Bug Hotels" that inspired us to give it a try once we returned home. With dwindling open spaces and wild habitats, even insects need places to thrive. We need our helpful bug friends, such as the Mason bees, ladybugs, snails, caterpillars (hence, butterflies and moths), and spiders so as to keep in check any unwanted non-native critters and to be a part of the life cycle of a healthy ecosystem as food for birds and other animals. Please read my narrative with photos below as a PDF file to learn how you can build your own Bug Hotel! Thanks to WhatsNextForEarth (listed above) for the Art Call!

Bug Inn Narrative with photos

Bug Hotels (pdf)Download

April-May 2022 Art Call: Cultural Change and Neuroscience

Pencil on paper with digitalized color, 9 "x 12"

Rethinking: We Can Change Our Minds

"We humans are both selfish and sociable creatures" says Richard Heinberg in his Think Resilience series mentioned above. While selfish behaviors are deeply embedded into our hardwiring for survival, we learned over time to be cooperative and develop empathy also to survive. The neocortex, the "new brain", of mammals has developed sophisticated mechanisms based on cultural stories. Our brains are incredibly "plastic", meaning they can be rewired and change, just by changing our thinking! "Neurons that fire together wire together" (Neurologist Donald Hebb) is how we begin to reshape our priorities and focus to forge new traits and habits and relationships. We are too willing to sacrifice the well-being of the future for immediate gains and it's time to rethink the emphasis on consumerism to cooperation and living in balance with nature. I was inspired by a large, old tree in our son's yard on Oahu when I created this drawing, emphasizing that we can grow new brains and change our minds and save our children's and grandchildren's future.  Time to Rethink Everything!! Thank you to @What's Next for Earth for this opportunity to participate in the bi-monthly art calls!!

December 2021 Art Call: Thinking Systems

Found Object sculpture, 9" x 4" x 3"

My small found object sculpture represents a fusion of human ingenuity/ideas/innovation and natural materials that are sustainably sourced to create energy. We made it to the moon and contemplate Mars...don't tell me we don't have what it takes to solve our current energy dilemma. We must get off fossil fuels! Thanks to Dr. Richard Heinberg for his courageous work trailblazing into a new era. See link to Post Carbon Institute above, thank you!!

Welcome to samples of my artwork!

Howling wolf, 2009. See more wolf paintings below.

Archival Artwork

I began studying art at Arizona State University in 1981, excelling in life drawing and human anatomy. Throughout my life, I've worked in watercolors, drawing, some printmaking, mix-media, and, for a time, acrylic painting (which I have stopped doing because of the plastic in acrylic paints). 

Self-portrait 2014

Self-portrait 2014

Self-portrait 2014

I decided to create an echo of my earlier self-portrait as an older woman (not old...yet!) in watercolor. 

Self-portrait 1982

Self-portrait 2014

Self-portrait 2014

When I was studying art at Arizona State University, we were assigned to create a watercolor self-portrait. 

Duet 2013

Cello with Birds 2015

Cello with Birds 2015

Mix-media acrylic

Brian and I enjoyed playing duets with him on the viola and me on the cello. 

Cello with Birds 2015

Cello with Birds 2015

Cello with Birds 2015

My love for the cello inspired me to create this mix-media acrylic painting. It was a sad moment for me to have to give up playing after enjoying this mellow, deep, and rich instrument for only three years.

Animal Portraits Samples, 2013 - 2018

Horse (watercolor), Stargate, and Jamo, (both acrylic)

Skippy, Ellie, and Hoops and Yoyo, (acrylic)

From Wolf Series, 2009

From Wolf Series, 2009

From Wolf Series, 2009

"For the Wolves" Mix-media acrylic painting


To raise awareness about the plight of wolves, I created a series of paintings and drawings depicting wolves. I also had cards made of these images. The poem below was written for the wolves in 2009.


 Canis Lupus

Look at your canine companion trotting on padded feet

by your side on peddled road or wetted pavement

mirroring the crescent moon that follows you with

a watchful stare.

Eyes squinting to catch a silhouette, a shadow, then

a leap, as muscled haunches contract. 

The Universe is this one moment, a heart beating against the 

echo chamber of a powerful chest.

Look at your canine friend again, then see the

night eye glowing and the lone cry of something wild,

something ancient loping beside you.

©2009 Marianne Bickett



From Wolf Series, 2009

From Wolf Series, 2009

From Wolf Series, 2009

"Canis Rufus" Mix-media acrylic painting


The Red Wolf of the southwest has faced an uphill battle since being reintroduced into the wild. Also, its relative in the southeast have faced great peril. Hatred of wolves has been around for many centuries. Wolves have been demonized and butchered ruthlessly. Please support efforts to save wolves.

Organizations such as the following need your help:


www.defendersofwildlife.org


www.centerforbiologicaldiversity.org


www.oregonwildlifecoalition.org



This set of wolf paintings was selected to be a part of the Sherwood Center for the Arts "Those Who Teach" art exhibit, August 3 - October 4, 2021.





Non-objective work: watercolor, 2017; and, mixed media pieces: both in 1987, gouache/oil pastels, and gouache on sewn paper. Essential play!!

KISS 2018 Conference

Marianne Bickett speaking at KISS 2018 conference.

Conference Presentation: KISS 2018

"Drawing Sound: Using the Wacom tablet as an independent drawing surface while also controlling Kyma." (co-authored/presented with Brian Belet, composer).

  --  Paper presentation & interactive demo. Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS 2018), Santa Cruz, CA, September 9, 2018.


                                                         *  **  ***  *****  ********

  

Research overview:


What happens when a visual artist creates a drawing in real time on a Wacom table and the pen data is simultaneously used to control an interactive Kyma sound synthesis Timeline? Does the artist keep to her original drawing plan while the Kyma sounds unfold? Or, does the artist respond to Kyma and alter the drawing plan (which then alters Kyma’s sound output)? As the artist learns the larger ecosystem environment, does she even anticipate future sound results, which then affects her drawing plan? Does the artist watch the projected image (as the Wacom surface itself is blank)? What is the dividing line between sonification and a dual artistic creation? Who interacts with who, and what affects what?


This conference demo presented the technical issues that surrounded the project, including difficulties that exist when using the Wacom pen’s output data to simultaneously drive a drawing program and Kyma as input data. The aesthetic issues listed above were also discussed, with solutions presented in both the visual and aural domains. The authors demonstrated aspects of their own artistic realms, as well as the interaction between the two, with both successes and remaining challenges discussed as a work in progress report.


Visual artist Marianne Bickett enjoys blind contour drawing and gesture sketching, techniques that lend themselves to real-time performance. In this context, the process of drawing is the composition. Composer Brian Belet uses Kyma as a live performance system in addition to a research sound design platform. For each artist, the spontaneity of gestures in performance, based on a preconceived macro plan, was the primary interest for this collaboration. For this project, a Kyma TimeLine was constructed to accept input data from the Wacom tablet, using the pen’s X, Y, Z, and tilt motions to control various parameters. Marianne created a drawing on the Wacom tablet (which was projected onto a screen in real time), and the pen data was routed into Kyma. What emerged was a linked (in both concrete and abstract ways) performance art work that took shape during the time period of the conference presentation.


Copyright © 2023 Marianne Bickett - All Rights Reserved.

Powered by GoDaddy