Marian Fortunati » About the Artist

Marian's everyday world stimulates her to share her views through her art.  Her long career as a teacher and principal -working with children and adults, her family and her love of travel have provided her with constant sources of inspiration.  She has studied drawing and painting in formal classes and workshops with artists she admires and now strives to capture the humor and beauty of the world as she interprets it.  Marian retired in 2007 to raise her grandson and to continue to expanding her range of painting and drawing skills.

Some of her favorite new paintings have recently received awards and one was critiqued in The Artists' Magazine 2008 online issue.
     
Currently Marian is working on paintings celebrating the  places she's visited and people she's interacted with during her travels and explorations.

Awards & Honors

• "Mustard Hills" - Honorable Mention - "2010 Plein Air Exhibit, Ventura County Maritime Museum" (Dorothy Orr - Juror) (2010)
• "California Colors" - First Place - "Views and Visions - SFVAC Spring Exhibition" - VIVA Art Center (Bob Privitt - Juror) (2010)
• "Monterey Magic" - Honorable Mention - The Art of The Landscape, 2010 Exhibit - Topanga Canyon Inn Gallery  (Frank Serrano - Juror) (2010)
• "Storm Clouds Over The Valley" - Merchant's Award, SFVAC - VIVA L'Art Exhibition - VIVA Gallery (David Gallup - Juror )(2009)
• "Calle Dorado" - Merchant's Award, VAG - Fall Exhibition 2009 - VIVA Gallery (2009)
• "September Song" -- Lee Banarer Award -- Valley Artists Guild 2009 Gold Medal Exhibition, VIVA Gallery (2009)
• "Gioiello Di Cinque Terre" -- Honorable Mention -- Oil/Acrylic,  "Westlake Village Art Guild 2009 Juried Open Show, Thousand Oaks Community Gallery (2009)
• "Harbinger"   - First Place --  Modern/Experimental,  "For The Love Of Art" Exhibition, SFVAC, VIVA Gallery (2008)
• "Laundry Day" -- Honorable Mention -- Scenic, "For The Love Of Art" Exhibition, SFVAC, VIVA Gallery (2008)
• "Las Virgenes Barn" - Merchants' Award,  VAG - Fall Exhibition - VIVA Gallery (2007)
• "Sunny Day In The Neighborhood" - First Place - Scenic, "Summer Heat" Exhibition, SFVAC, - LC * Left Coast Gallery (2007)
• "Irises and Mums" - Third Place - Still Life, SFVAC - Finegood Gallery (2007)
• "Mother's Morning" - Third Place - Portrait, San Fernando Valley Art Club Spring Exhibition -  A StuART Gallery,  (2006)
• "Morning Glory On The 101" - Honorable Mention -Scenic, San Fernando Valley Art Club  Spring Exhibition - A StuART Gallery,  (2006)
• "Beautiful Bride" - Honorable Mention, San Fernando Valley Art Club March Mini Contest,  (2006) 
• "Venezia" - First Place Prize, Masterpiece Artists' Interpretations Contest, (2004)
   

      Galleries and Museum Shows   

          2010

• VOCA Gallery, "Women Painters at VOCA" - Venice, CA (August - September, 2010)
• Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis Maryland -2010 American Landscape National Juried Show  (August - September, 2010)
• VIVA Art Center, "Four Faces of VIVA" - (June - July, 2010)
• VIVA Art Center, "Views and Visions - SFVAC Spring 2010 Juried Exhibit" - (May - June, 2010)
• American Juried Art Salon 10th International Show - Spring / Summer 2010
• Topanga Canyon Inn Art Gallery "Art of the Landscape 2010" - Juror: Frank Serrano (April-May, 2010)
• VIVA Art Center, "Valley Artists Guild 2010 Gold Medal Exhibition" - (April, 2010)
• Thousand Oaks Community Art Gallery, Westlake Village Art Guild 2010 Juried Open Show (March - April, 2010)
• Orlando Gallery, "One Foot Show" - Women Painters West (February, 2010)
• La Galeria Gitana, "Urban Spaces - The San Fernando Valley" - a  group show - (January-March, 2010)
• NVAL Carter House Gallery, North Valley Art League's 26th Annual National Show (January - February, 2010)

• VIVA Gallery - "VIVA L'Art SFVAC Exhibition" (Juror: David Gallup) (November-December 2009)
• Women's City Club Pasadena (at the Historic Blinn House), California Art Club "Precious Gifts"  Exhibition -  Jurors: Karl Dempwolf / Michael Obermeyer (December-April 2010)
• Segil Gallery "Seventh Annual Holiday Small Works Show" (December, 2009)
• SoPas Gallery, City Of Trees Exhibition presented by the California Art Club and the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, (October-November 2009)
• VIVA Gallery - "VAG Fall 2009 Exhibition" (September-October) 2009)
• Richeson School of Art & Gallery, Kimberly WI -- "Richeson 75: 2009 Landscape, Seascape and Architecture International Exhibit" (October-December, 2009)
  
• La Galeria Gitana, "Sacred Art / All Things Spiritual" - a 20 person group show - (September-December, 2009)
• 2009 Art Kudos Online Gallery - From the 1,176 works of art submitted, a total of 140 outstanding works of art (including mine) were chosen for the International Exhibition which will be online from August 2009 to August 2010.
•  VIVA Gallery - "VIVA Ten" - Tenth Annual All Group Show (July-August, 2009)
• Santa Cruz Art League, 79th Annual Statewide Exhibit -Irreplaceable Places: Contemporary Landscape Painters of California (Kevin Macpherson - juror) (May-June, 2009)
• La Galeria Gitana, "FRINGES: The Hills and Canyons Of The San Fernando Valley" - a 10 person group show - (April - June, 2009)
• VIVA Gallery, Valley Artists Guild 2009 Gold Medal Exhibition (April, 2009)
• Thousand Oaks Community Art Gallery, Westlake Village Art Guild 2009 Juried Open Show (March - April, 2009)
• NVAL Carter House Gallery, North Valley Art League's 25th Annual National Show (January - February, 2009)
• City of Burbank Creative Arts Center Gallery, SFVAC "New Beginnings" Exhibit  (January, 2009)

            2008

• SGFAA Gallery, 2008 Plein-Air*San Gabriel (November, 2008)
• SoPas Gallery, Rialto Visions Exhibition presented by the California Art Club and the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, (November 2008)
• VIVA Gallery, Southern California Open Regional Exhibit (SCORE VII), (October - November, 2008)
• VIVA Gallery, VAG Fall Exhibition, (September-October, 2008)
• Finegood Gallery, SFVAC Fall Exhibition, (September-October, 2008)
• Canoga Park Youth Art Center, VAG "Hidden Places of Los Angeles", (July-August, 2008)
• Women's City Club Pasadena, California Art Club "Natural Beauty" Exhibition -  (June-December 2008)
• VIVA Gallery, VAG 60^th Annual 2008 Gold Medal Exhibition, (March 2008)
• VIVA Gallery, SFVAC "For the Love of Art" Exhibition, (February 2008)
• Thousand Oaks Community Gallery,  Thousand Oaks Art Association 2008 Open Juried Show,  (February 2008)

·         2007

• VIVA Gallery, Southern California Open Regional Exhibition (SCORE VI),  (October-November 2007)
• VIVA Gallery, VAG Fall Exhibition, (September-October 2007)
• VIVA Gallery, (All Members' Show) "A Taste of Summer" (August, 2007)
• Left Coast Gallery, SFVAC (August, 2007)
• Canoga Park Youth Center, VAG (July, 2007)
• Finegood Gallery, SFVAC (July, 2007)
• Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (Barnsdall Park), Open Call 2007, (July-August 2007) 
• Thousand Oaks Community Gallery,  Westlake Village Art Guild    Annual Open Juried Show   (March -April  2007)
• VIVA Gallery - VAG 2007 Gold Medal Exhibition, Valley Artists Guild (February 2007)
• Palm Springs Art Museum - Artists Council 38th Annual National Juried Exhibition - (January - March 2007)
  
  
• 2006 
   
  • A StuART Gallery Spring Exhibition, San Fernando Valley Art Club
    (May, 2006)  

Displays & Festivals:

• "Sunny Day In The Neighborhood" Juried in to Learning & Product Expo: ART! sponsored by The Artist's Magazine, Pasadena, CA (October, 2007)  
• Woodland Hills Art Affaire - June, 2007
• "The Explorers" Juried in to Learning & Product Expo: ART! sponsored by The Artist's Magazine, Burbank, CA (October, 2006)
• "The River" - Juried in to Learning & Product Expo: ART! sponsored by The Artist's Magazine, Burbank, CA (October, 2005)

Education:

BA in Zoology
MS in Education
Teaching and Administrative Credentials
Art Instruction
        Mission Renaissance    Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art
        California Art Institute
Workshops and classes from:
                    Brian Blood............................Scott Burdick
                    Karl Dempwolf.......................Anita Hampton
                    Frank Gardner........................Calvin Liang
                    Jeremy Lipking.......................Camille Przewodik
                    Ray Roberts...........................Johanna Spinks
                    John Paul Thornton.................Ryan Wurmser

Pictured below are Marian and her husband, Gastone, at the opening of the Palm Springs Art Museum National Open Juried Show.