Marsia Alexander-Clarke is an American

video installation Video installation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with installation art, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience. Tracing its origins to the birth of video art in the 1970s, it has ...

artist. She is a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

Personal life and education

Marsia Alexander-Clarke was born in Valparaiso,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in 1939 and moved to the United States to attend high school in 1952, eventually becoming a United States citizen. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts at

Park College Park University is a private university in Parkville, Missouri. It was founded in 1875. In the fall of 2017, Park had an enrollment of 11,457 students. History The school which was originally called Park College was founded in 1875 by John A. ...

, and studied at the Art Students League of New York under Ethel Schwabacher from 1962 to 1968. She finalized her education by getting her Master of Fine Arts from

Claremont Graduate School The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna C ...

in 1974. She lives and works in

Altadena, California Altadena () ("Alta", Spanish language, Spanish for "Upper", and "dena" from Pasadena, California, Pasadena) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Verdugo Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, approximately 14 ...

Artistic career

Alexander-Clarke started her artistic career as a sculptor in the 1970s and 80s. Her primary sculptures of this time were called "Nomadic". She would install these sculptures in nature, documenting them and then exhibiting them in galleries calling their gallery placement " dormant." These "

nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

" pieces were made of brown

wrapping paper Gift wrapping is the act of enclosing a gift in some sort of material. Wrapping paper is a kind of paper designed for gift wrapping. An alternative to gift wrapping is using a gift box or bag. A wrapped or boxed gift may be held closed with ri ...

and tape, and eventually out of wood and canvas. Through these works, Alexander-Clarke explored ideas of process art,

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

, and

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

. In the early 1990s Alexander-Clarke became involved in video art. She was active in Studio X, a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

based in California. In 1997 she had her first video exhibition, ''S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G'', at

El Camino College El Camino College (Elco or ECC) is a two-year public community college located in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County known as Alondra Park.California Museum of Photography The UCR/California Museum of Photography (CMP) is an off-campus institution and department of the UCR College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at University of California, Riverside, the Uni ...

. Her work is held in public and private collections, including

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 56,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

Notable exhibitions

*''The Quest for Balance'', group show, 1987;

Woman's Building The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic de ...

, Los Angeles, California *''S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G'', 2000;

California Museum of Photography The UCR/California Museum of Photography (CMP) is an off-campus institution and department of the UCR College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at University of California, Riverside, the Uni ...

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

*''UT COELUM'', 2003; Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum,

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

*''Marsia Alexander-Clarke and Barbara Berk'', 2007;

Riverside Art Museum Riverside Art Museum is an art museum in the historic Mission Inn District of Riverside, California. The museum is a non-profit organization which focuses on addressing social issues and offers art classes as well as other events in order to in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander-Clarke, Marsia American women installation artists American installation artists Living people Artists from California Art Students League of New York alumni Claremont Graduate University alumni People from Valparaíso 1939 births Chilean emigrants to the United States American video artists American women video artists Park University alumni 21st-century American women