Marilyn Banner. 2021. Looking Upward. [paint]

Artist Statement: This painting, Looking Upward was inspired by a legend about the birth and early days of Abraham as the child looked up at the sky and wondered about the source of the sun, the moon, and the stars. It is about innocence and wonder, the sources of the youngest child’s questions at Passover.

Artist Bio: Marilyn Banner has worked in various media including painting, assemblage, and installation, to address wide-ranging content spanning death and darkness, earth and color, light and the spirit. For over a decade she has worked solely with encaustic paint, and is known for her visceral tactile sensibility and intimate abstract explorations of land and water.

Banner earned a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis, and a MSEd from Massachusetts College of Art.  Her work has been featured in Encaustic Art of the 20th Century and in several books by Ori Z.Soltes on Jewish mysticism and art. She has been the recipient of a Montgomery County Arts Council Grant and a Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Creative Fellows Grant. Her woks are held in the collections of the Embassy of Costa Rica, Hebrew Union College/NYC, B’nai B’rith Klutznick Museum/DC, and Sheppard Pratt Hospital (Baltimore), as well as numerous private collections. She has enjoyed ten residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Banner is a long-term member of Ceres Gallery in NYC. She lives and works in Takoma Park, Maryland with her husband Carl Banner, with whom she produces a monthly performance series. 


haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning