CLINTON — Sandra Marson of Jacksonville has been retired for almost 10 years, but she has kept herself busy doing something she enjoys — making art.
She currently has a one-woman exhibit at First Security Bank in Clinton.
Marson’s exhibit, Art by Design, will remain on display until May 1. The show includes 14 acrylic paintings on canvas, created in the abstract or nonrepresentational style.
Marson’s artwork can be seen in the lobby of First Security Bank, 112 Volunteers Parkway in Clinton. Lobby hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. The bank is closed on Saturday.
Karen Kyle, manager at First Security Bank, said the bank has been hosting art exhibits for several years.
“We do have an exhibit at the bank all of the time,” she said, noting that the paintings hang for two or three months. “When we first started showing art, I went to some of the local art groups in our area and asked them to provide artists for the exhibits and asked for works that pertained to Van Buren County.
“The customers loved it,” Kyle said.
“We are happy to show the artwork,” she said, adding that she prefers to show work by local artists but does include work by other artists, such as Marson, who live outside Van Buren County.
“The last two times, the artist has shown abstract work,” she said. “The customers loved that as well.”
Marson is a member of the North Central Arkansas Artist League, which is sponsored by the North Central Arkansas Foundation for the Arts and Education in Fairfield Bay. She is also a member of the Arkansas League of Artists and the Transparent Watercolor Society.
Marson shows her work frequently at the North Central Arkansas Art Gallery in Fairfield Bay, which is an outreach of the foundation.
Charlotte Rierson of Fairfield Bay coordinates the North Central Arkansas Art Gallery and often suggests artists for First Security Bank exhibits.
“First Security Bank is a wonderful venue for artists to showcase their art,” Rierson said. “I am president of the North Central Arkansas Artist League, as well as coordinator for the North Central Arkansas Art Gallery, which brings me in contact with lots of artists.
“I enjoy helping Karen Kyle, bank manager, and find pleasure in helping to promote the artists and for our community to be able to view fine art.”
Marson said she retired in 2008 after working for 36 years at the First Electric Cooperative in Jacksonville, which has a district office in Heber Springs.
“That was the same year I became a full-time artist,” Marson said, smiling.
“I’ve always been interested in the arts and minored in art at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English,” she said. “I took every art class I could. I’ve also read books and attended workshops to help me improve my art.”
After she retired, Marson joined the Mid-Southern Watercolorists and began to enter every MSW show she could.
“I entered MSW shows almost entirely for eight years, but now I’ve branched out,” she said. “I have entered the Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock and have been rejected several times, so I showed my work in the first two Delta des Refuses exhibits in North Little Rock. I’ve received my rejection notice again this year from the Delta, but there is not going to be a Delta des Refuse exhibit this year, so I will have to show my work elsewhere.”
Marson said she has been influenced by a collection of underwater photos she took while diving in the Caribbean.
“The images are spectacular and from a world few people will experience,” she said.
Following her exhibit at First Security Bank, Marson will show her art in another one-woman show at the Cox Creative Center in Little Rock during June and July.
“I plan to attend both 2nd Friday Art Night receptions,” she said. Those receptions will take place from 6-8 p.m. June 9 and July 14. The exhibit and the receptions are free and open to the public.
Cox Creative Center, which is part of the Central Arkansas Library System, is at 120 River Market Ave. in Little Rock.
Marson will also have a one-woman exhibit in October at the Center for Art and Education in Van Buren in Crawford County.