Marsha Cottrell (born 1964) is an American artist.

Biography

Cottrell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1964. She now lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Cottrell was educated at

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is based at Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate students in a wid ...

, Temple University where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

where she received a Masters of Fine Arts. Cottrell was trained as a painter, but while working in the production department of a magazine in the late 1990s she began to utilize a prosaic office printer and began layering periods, commas, brackets, and other forms to create compositions. Through a process of running paper through printer again and again, these cropped, resized and distorted shapes developed into unique works on paper. Cottrell described the change from painting to her new art-making method in the following terms: "Since I couldn't be in my studio, it was natural for me to consider how I might use the tools in my immediate environment." When a work on paper is completed Cottrell deletes the corresponding digital file, emphasizing the physicality of the object and placing her practice in opposition to

cyberart Cyberarts or cyberart refers to the class of art produced with the help of computer software and hardware, often with an interactive or multimedia aspect. Overview The term "cyberarts" is vague and relatively new; nevertheless much of the work d ...

and similar movements. Cottrell often uses high quality

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

paper in her works – allowing the iron oxide toner to build up on the surface over the course of multiple runs through a printer. The artist, who typically works in grayscale, debuted her first works in color at a 2021 exhibition with her New York gallery, Van Doren Waxter.

Awards

In 2019, Cottrell received an Anonymous Was A Woman award, and is also a recipient of the 2013

Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation was founded in 1918 by Louis Comfort Tiffany to operate his estate, Laurelton Hall, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was designed to be a summer retreat for artists and craftspeople. In 1946 the estate ...

, Biennial Award; the 2007 Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Fellowship Grant in Drawing; the 2004 Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, Educational Grant; the 2003

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

, Fellowship Grant in Drawing; the 2001

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been ...

, Fellowship; the 1999

, Fellowship Grant in Digital Arts; and the 1999 Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, Space Program.

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected public collections

Marsha Cottrell's work is featured in the collections of the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, Chicago, IL; the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; Morgan Library and Museum, New York, NY; Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; North Carolina Museum of Art, NC; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cottrell, Marsha 1964 births Living people Artists from Philadelphia University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni American women printmakers 21st-century American printmakers 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American painters 21st-century American women painters 20th-century American women painters Artists from Brooklyn Temple University Tyler School of Art alumni