Marion Wilson has 20 years of socially engaged public art projects linking communities through intimate gestures of drawing, moss and species collections, and larger partnerships up-cycling mobile architectures, community gardens or city block sized painted murals.

In 2016 Wilson pivoted towards her first language - painting - and more recently experimental watercolors. Wilson tests the units of painting (glazing, light and chroma) by painting on translucent sheets of mylar, black watercolor paper, photographs and heavy 300 lb cardstock. Centering themes of the body, aging, femininity, intimacy, vulnerability, and the family, the new portrait images explore everyday moments with humor and honesty. Recently Wilson has moved from portraits in her immediate surroundings to depicting strong female characters in film, including Dorothy (Blue Velvet), Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks), Aileen Wuornos/Charlize Theron (Monster) and Ruth Langmore (Ozarks).