About the Artist

Marla's  Blog

Marla Baggetta has been a self-employed, professional artist since 1983, when she received her BFA with honors from Art Center College of Design. Baggetta has had a distinguished career as a commercial illustrator before turning to landscape painting, working for clients such as Walt Disney, Nissan Motors, Houghton Mifflin Publishing, to name just a few.

After moving to Oregon in 1993, Baggetta began painting the landscape. Baggetta has quickly established herself as one of the wests' leading representational painters with her compelling and sophisticated imagery. She is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and the Pastel Society of Oregon. She has won numerous awards for her paintings including Arts for the Parks top 100 in 1999, Best in Show, Oregon Pastel Society 2003 and Bronze Award for the International Association of Pastel Societies Exhibition, 2000. She has been featured in the premiere publication for pastel painters; Pastel Journal. She is included in Pure Color; The Best in Pastel and is the author of Step by Step Pastel published by Walter Foster Publishing.

Baggetta's approach to painting reflects the formal art education she received at Art Center College of Design and her experiance as a landscape painter; "I am a great believer in the fundamentals of painting; drawing, composition, color theory and the thought that paintings communicate an idea through this vocabulary. The process of bringing a concept to a complete image is deeply compelling and satisfying. My painting process is a very active one where my first marks and impressions are usually bold and gestural. Then I settle in and make assessments and refinements. The last marks are usually slow, quiet ones, as I am making small moves to find my way towards the finished piece. I'm hoping to capture the "aha!" that originally attracted me to my subject. Each one of my original pastels is done on museum grade sanded pastel paper. I use a variety of brands of soft pastel such as Schmincke, Unison, Terry Ludwig, and Diane Townsend, just to name a few. Each brand of pastel has different characteristics that I use to accomplish a variety of strokes and washes within a piece. The final painting is lightly sprayed with a fine fixative before framing."

Baggetta teaches painting workshops in the Portland area. "Teaching is very challenging because it requires having to verbalize all the things you've learned to do intuitively. It makes you walk your talk and forces a formal basis for the creative process. I love to see students that are tentative, start to delve in." Baggetta has taught at Art Center College of Design, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Creative Arts Community-Menucha and West Linn/Wilsonville ommunity Education as well as in various workshop settings.

Marla Baggetta, PSA, PSO

EDUCATION

ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN, Pasadena, CA 1981-1983

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Awarded with Honors

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Freelance illustrator - Portland & L.A. 1984 -2003

Commercial projects ranging from editorial pieces, advertising, children's books, and educational materials to interpretiveillustrations. Partial client list: Boyd Mills Press, Lark Books, Harcourt Brace, Houghton Mifflin, McGraw-Hill, Nissan, Transamerica, Walt Disney Productions, Carnation Foods, MGM Home Entertainment, Metro, Agripac, Kindercare Inc, & Mattel Toys.

Paintings included in, international, national and regional exhibitions.

AWARDS AND HONORS (selected)

Best in Show; Painting Category; La Quinta Arts Festival, 2008

Best of Show, Drawing, Des Moines Arts Festival, Des Moines, Iowa, 2007

Third Place, Pastel Painters of Maine,  Kennebunk, Maine, 2007

Carol Duke Award of Excellence, Bellevue Arts and Crafts Fair, Bellevue WA, 2006

Jurors Award, Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, Lake Oswego, OR, 2006

Dakota Pastels Cover Competition, Runners-up, La Conner, WA, 2006

The Artists Magazine 23rd Annual Competition, Finalist, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2006

Jurors Award, Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, 2005

ADG Postcard Award, 19th International Open Exhibition, 2005

Award of Merit, Nothwest Pastel Society Member's Show, 2005

Presidents Award, Northwest Pastel Society Member's Show, 2004

Best in Show; Painting Category; La Quinta Arts Festival, 2004

Best of Show; Technical Publications,Technical Art; STC Willamette Valley Chapter, 2004-2005

Honorable Mention, Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, Lake Oswego OR, 2004

Pastel Society of Oregon, Award # 2; Oakland OR, 2004

Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz Poster Artist, Gresham OR, 2004

Clackamas County Featured Artist, Clackamas County, OR 2004

Best in Show; Pastel Society of Oregon Membership Show; Oakland, OR 2003

Pastel Society of Oregon, Award # 8, 2003

Bronze Award; International Association of Pastel Societies; Placerville, CA 2002

Sponsors Award; Pastel Society of Oregon; Medford, OR, 2002

Best in Show 2D; Art in the Pearl, Portland OR, 2001

Arts for the Parks Top 100; Jackson, WY, 1999

Purchase Award, Lake Oswego Visual Chronicle, Lake Oswego, OR 1998

Peoples Choice Award, West Linn Arts Commission, West Linn, OR 1998

First Place, Pastel Category; West Linn Arts Commission, West Linn, OR 1997

TEACHING

Sitka Center for Art and Ecology; Pastel Painting - 2005,2006

Creative Arts Community at Menucha; Pastel Painting - 1999 - 2004

Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR - 1995 - 1999

Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA - 1988 - 1990

West Linn/Wilsonville Community Adult Education - 1999 - 2005

Pastel Painting Workshops, West Linn, OR, 2001 to present

EXHIBITIONS (selected)

Oswego Lake Gallery, Lake Oswego, OR, one person show, Feb., 2008

La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA, March, 2007

Scottsdale Festival of Art, AZ, March 2007

Oswego Lake Gallery, Lake Oswego, OR, one person show, Feb., 2007

Art in the Pearl, Portland, OR, Sept, 2006

Bellevue Arts & Crafts Fair, Bellevue WA, July,  2006

Cherry Creek Festival of Art, Denver, CA 2006

La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA, March, 2006

Oswego Lake Gallery, one person show, Feb., 2006

Galerie Gabrie, one person show, Sept., 2005

Art in the Pearl, Portland, OR, Sept, 2005

Bellevue Arts Festival, Bellevue WA, July, 2005

La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA, March, 2005

Galerie Gabrie, one person show, Oct., 2004

Art in the Pearl, Portland, OR, Sept, 2004

Bellevue Arts Festival, Bellevue WA, July, 2004

Lake Oswego Festival of Arts, Lake Oswego, OR, June, 2004

IAPS, 7th Annual juried Exhibition, Bethlehem, Pennsylvannia, May, 2004

La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA, March, 2004

Yoshida Fine Art Gallery, one person show, Feb. 2004

Yoshida Fine Art Gallery, group show, Aug, 2004

Local 14, group show,World Forestry Center, Portland, OR, Oct. 2003

Art in the Pearl, Portland, OR, Sept, 2003

Pastel Society of the West Coast, 17th Annual Open Exhibition, Sacramento, CA, March, 2003

Local 14, group show,World Forestry Center, Portland, OR, Oct. 2002

Art in the Pearl, Portland, OR, Sept., 2002

IAPS, 6th Annual juried Exhibition, Placerville, CA, May, 2002

Local 14, group show,World Forestry Center, Portland, OR, Oct., 2001

Lake Oswego Festival of Arts, Lake Oswego, OR, June, 2001

Local 14, group show,World Forestry Center, Portland, OR, Oct., 2000

Attic Gallery, one person show, Portland, OR, Feb., 2000

Arts for the Parks Top 100, Jackson, Wyoming, Sept., 1999

Attic Gallery, Group Pastel Show, Portland, OR, Feb., 1999

Attic Gallery, Group Show, Portland, OR, Dec., 1999

West Linn Public Library, West Linn, OR, Jan., 1998

Lake Oswego Festival of Arts, Visual Chronicle, Lake Oswego, OR, 1998

Blount Corporate Offices, One person show, Clackamas, OR, Feb., 1997

West Linn Public Library, West Linn, OR, March, 1997

Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center, Group show, 1995

PUBLICATIONS

Pure Color; The Best of Pastel, Northlight Publishing, Fall 2005

Pastel Step by Step, by Marla Baggetta, Walter Foster Publishing, 2004

The Pastel Journal, Feature article, Feb. 2004

American Artists, Recent award winners, April 2003

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Pastel Society of Oregon, Signature Member

Pastel Society of America, Signature Member

Northwest Pastel Society

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