Today we’d like to introduce you to Marlene Koenig.
Hi Marlene, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My name is Marlene Koenig, and I am an artist, designer, muralist, yoga instructor and retreat guide. How we animate and decorate ourselves in our everyday lives has given rise to an interest in exploring the ornamental arts of other cultures. I have traveled extensively through such places as India, Nepal, Morocco, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand. Encountering the colors, patterns, and objects with which the peoples of these cultures adorn their worlds has enriched my life and expanded my abilities to adorn my own. After one such period of traveling so widely, I returned to New York City, where my husband and I set up a studio in the recently abandoned Dandy Zipper Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. With 1800 square feet in which to work, I was able to experiment with a wide variety of media, such as using found objects and learning to paint with encaustics. While in New York, I was fortunate enough to exhibit my ongoing work, and my involvement within a network of artists in the East Village, the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint, allowed me to participate regularly in the open forums we would set up in our studios. I am the youngest in a large creative family.
My mother owned a small home accessory business, for which she created beautiful, unique, handmade pillows and quilts. My father is a landscape architect, creating some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen, along with amazing outdoor sculptures. They have always supported my desire to live a creative life, and I cannot be more grateful for that. So, today, I am lucky enough to live as an artist and be able to say that my work is in homes, galleries, and businesses from Key West and New York to Europe and Asia. I feel particularly grateful when I have an opportunity to paint a mural: there is nothing like being able to stretch your creativity and see your vision on a 25-foot wall! The other part of my creative life is teaching Yoga Asana and yoga philosophy at Shakti Yoga and at retreats we’ve organized all over the world. I am the co-creator of Shakti’s 200-hour yoga training program and Sacred Journey Retreats. It is so wonderful to get to share my passion for yoga and philosophy with students here in Key West, as well as leading them on some amazing retreats in Nicaragua, Morocco, Italy, Greece, Bali, and Thailand. For me, there is a real connection and integration between these two practices. My life on the yoga mat and meditation cushion completely inform my life as a visual artist, and I think that this is very apparent when you look at my work. And, every time I am in front of a group of students, I take what I’ve learned from being in front of my painting easel and weave it into my teachings. Simply put, it is my hope that the viewer of my art, or the student in my classes, takes away something to enhance their own journey and make the path they have chosen in this world a little more beautiful.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The problems and struggles I’ve encountered along the way have manifested themselves in basically two ways: externally and then internally. First, there is always the problems of rising rents in the cities in which we’d like to live – which makes finding studio space difficult, as well, and has even resulted in moving ourselves to new places entirely. Along with this problem comes the one of trying to balance having a job at a bar, say, to make the money we need, and still being able to have the energy needed to be creative. However, by far the most difficult struggles have been within myself: I did not go to art school and do not have any official technical training, so for a long time, I struggled with gnawing insecurity over this, a lack of confidence about whether or not I could say that what I did was really the work of an “artist.” And, related to this, has been the problem of having to overcome feeling so vulnerable about putting my artwork out there in the world, for others to see, and worrying too much over their opinions of me and my work. Not at all a smooth road, but one that continues to be necessary for me to emerge into what I wish to be and to do what I’d like to do effectively.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a visual artist and a yoga instructor. I am primarily a painter, specializing in making artwork that has a deep relationship to my studies of Eastern Philosophy. I am known for making work that is expressive of this relationship, with most of my gallery shows and inclusions having exhibited work that shows this connection. I am also known for my large-scale mural work throughout Key West, as well as in Miami. Through all of this work, on paper, panels, canvas, and walls, I am known for my imaginative and vibrant use of color, as well as weaving together concepts and symbols from other cultures into a style uniquely my own. I am most proud of having been able to turn a lack of technical training into something that — through hard work and long, sustained practice — has become this singular style, readily recognizable as the artwork of mine.
Most recently, I am very proud of a project just completed: a book made up of words and collages, created in collaboration with my husband. It is based on our travel journals and is reflective of experimenting with limited materials while on the move and improvising while exchanging ideas and impressions we would pass between ourselves. This daily practice of experiment and exchange, and the openness to having one’s work affected by another, is something else I’d enjoy becoming known for… If anything sets me apart from others, it would be this deep understanding of Eastern Philosophy and how it so informs my work — especially when it proceeds by way of undertaking daily practices and rituals and turns them into a sort of dancing discipline that spills out onto surfaces. It is this daily practice, living my art every day, showing up every morning and putting the practice into play, consistently and rigorously, that I would wish to be something one will always be able to say about me. I love when I am recognizing that everything I do feeds into my artwork, and, in turn, my artwork feeds into everything I do.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Most important to my success, I would say, are mental flexibility, being able to go with any flow, recognizing that circumstances are constantly, and often suddenly, changing— and when they do, having the ability to meet them, with presence and patience. Along with this goes a capacity for not allowing the minutiae of everyday living — necessary chores and obligations, etc. — get in the way, and prevent my living creatively: having the ability to stay aligned with my vision and values and not get discouraged or side-tracked. ‘Showing up”, every single day, no matter what is else is happening, to always put myself in the position to make some art, each new day — this, for me, is the most important thing to sustain, for having any success.
Contact Info:
- Email: marlenekoenig108@gmail.com
- Website: marlenekoenigart.com
- Instagram: @marlenekoenigart
- Facebook: MARLENE KOENIG Art
