Marja Vallila

Marja Vallila
Artist Marja Vallila
Born(1950-10-20)October 20, 1950
Prague, Czechoslovakia.
DiedDecember 23, 2018(2018-12-23) (aged 68)
OccupationSculptor

Marja Vallila (October 20, 1950 – December 23, 2018)[1] was an American artist, painter, ceramicist and sculptor.[2][3][4]

Biography

Marja Vallila was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia[5] to a Finnish father, diplomat Olli Vallila, and a mother of Czech descent, Rúzena (Rose) Stepánka.[1][6] She later moved to Geneva (Switzerland), then Finland, and finally settled in Washington DC where she learned a fourth language and attended Western High school, renamed (1974) Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the Georgetown neighborhood. She pursued her education at Cornell University (master of fine arts),[5][7][8] (Fulbright grantee) and participated in exhibitions at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.[9]

She found a place in a warehouse in SoHo, Manhattan that was spacious enough to accommodate both a studio and living space. She then met sculptor James W. Buchman,[10] whom she married,[5] and started teaching as a professor in the art department at SUNY, University at Albany.[11][12][13]

In 1992, she spent a year of residency in France, Centre culturel de la Villedieu.[14]

Her early researches often led to large outdoors architectonic sculptures made of steel, sometimes with the addition of granite, cement or wood.[15] She then went through a period of small-scale metal sculptures, already incorporating objects of daily life in her carving and casting processes, paradoxically resulting in a precious like object.[16] It is only after a visit to Deruta, Italy that she started exploring again, in a unique way, combining trivial objects, the many possibilities of slip-cast ceramics, a medium often used in decorative arts but seldom attached to High Art. Art critics spoke about these overlapping, textured, dynamic, three dimensional collages that offer "final forms [...] almost amphibian-looking biomorphic creations that "verge on the vessel yet avoid a central, open void," according to John Perreault. Polychromatic with layered transparencies, "the exuberant yet intricate looping shapes merge back again into an indescribable whole," said Milan Hlaveš.[17][18]

As her health deteriorated, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee where, though locked in silence, she continued to work on paintings and ceramics.[19][20]

Marja Vallila deeded her parents' estate (spared during postwar and Soviet times thanks to the presence of a Finnish flag in the window and diplomatic plaque on the building) in Červený Újezd, near Prague, to be used by the community as a special education center.[21]

Major shows

  • Zabriskie Gallery (1977), solo
  • Newark Museum (1979), solo, (1991), "Book Series", sculpture
  • Springfield Museum (1979), solo
  • Seoul Arts Center (2001), solo
  • U Prestenu Gallery (2001), solo
  • Nancy Margolis Gallery (2000), solo
  • Chodovska Tvrz, Czech Republic, (2003) solo

Her work was included in the show "Study in Materials" at Storm King Art Center in 1978 along with Nevelson, Smith, Lassaw, Calder, Hesse and Saul Baizerman as well as in the show "The Box: From Duchamp to Horn" in 1994 at Ubu Gallery.[22] Her digital films, about the elements in her sculptures and their associations, have been screened at Millenium (2003/2004), Two Boots Pioneer Theater (2003/2004), and Zabriskie Gallery (2002).[18][23][24]

Permanent collections

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Carbone, David (24 January 2019). "UAlbany Dept. of Art & Art History, SUNY". The Department of Art and Art History at the University at Albany. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2019 – via Facebook.
  2. ^ "Marja Vallila". Clara database. National Museum of Women in the Arts. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018.
  3. ^ Brenson, Michael (30 June 1989). "Review/Art; 'Sculpture by Painters' at the Pace". The New York Times. pp. C.21. ProQuest 427228256. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
  4. ^ "Art & Artists Files: Marja Vallila". Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. Archived from the original on 30 March 2025. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
  5. ^ a b c "Marja Vallila Exhibits Metal Works". Brattleboro Reformer. Brattleboro, VT. 14 February 1979. p. 7. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Marja Vallila - Works". Binder Projects. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Exhibition in Putney". Bennington Banner. Bennington, VT. 9 September 1975. p. 8. Archived from the original on 13 November 2025. Retrieved 26 January 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Vallila, Marja (American sculptor, born 1950)". Union List of Artist Names. Getty Research Institute. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  9. ^ a b Handbook of the Collections. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. 1981. p. 106. OCLC 8899281. Retrieved 12 November 2025 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Singer, Alan (1985). "In living steel and stone: the work of Marja Vallila and James Buchman". Arts Magazine. 59 (7–8): 84–86. Retrieved 12 November 2025 – via Google Books. Abstract: On the abstract sculptures, 1970s-1980s, of two American artists who are also a married couple
  11. ^ "University at Albany - SUNY - Work Images". International Sculpture Center. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015.
  12. ^ "Art Department Faculty Exhibition". University Art Museum. University at Albany, SUNY. 1997. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  13. ^ Stelle, David. "Biography". David Stelle. Archived from the original on 14 February 2025. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  14. ^ (in French) Data.Bnf [1]
  15. ^ "Gateway, (sculpture) | Vallila, Marja". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  16. ^ Cameron, Dan (1997). "Art Department Faculty Exhibition: Marja Vallila". University Art Museum. University at Albany, SUNY. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017.
  17. ^ Hlaveš, Milan (2003). Marja Vallila 2003 (Exhibition catalogue) (in Czech). Mutabene. ISBN 9788086745046. OCLC 320591588.
  18. ^ a b "Artist | Marja Vallila". Zabriskie Gallery. 2004. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  19. ^ "'Goober (Artificial Flower)' by Marja Vallila [2002]". Reflect N Us. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  20. ^ "Women Touch: Ceramics | Marja Vallila [2004]". Loveed Fine Arts. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  21. ^ Klíč [The Key] (Video) (in Czech). 30 October 2007. Archived from the original on 15 June 2025. Retrieved 12 November 2025 – via Czech Television.
  22. ^ "The Box: From Duchamp to Horn". Ubu Gallery. 1994. Archived from the original on 24 May 2025. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  23. ^ "Artists: Marja Vallila". Artnet. Archived from the original on 13 November 2025. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  24. ^ "Artist: Marja Vallila". Artadoo. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  25. ^ Akin, Elaine Slayton (2 November 2017). "Never Too Late: Marja Vallila Late Works at Tops Gallery, Memphis". Burnaway, The Voice of Art in the South. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017.
  26. ^ "Public Art: Public Art in Downtown Syracuse". downtownsyracuse.com. Archived from the original on 23 November 2018.
  27. ^ "'Gateway' by Marja Vallila in Syracuse, NY". Virtual Globetrotting. 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  28. ^ "Permanent Exhibition". Ceramic studio Kohoutov. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021.
  29. ^ "Search Results: Marja Vallila". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Dancing Goober, (sculpture) .... Owner/Location: Smith College Smith College Museum of Art
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