LIFE in the NICHE

Marianne still remembers the detailed 2nd grade drawing of a postman and mailbox that moved her magically from dreaded dancing school to avid art classes – she had been delivered unto her lifetime niche she thought!  When it came to college though, it seemed too scary – what does an adult artist really do, after all?  Taking the less fearsome path, she chose a different niche and became an English teacher in Houston, married an attorney and had two children.

Finding that second niche somewhat confining, she returned to watercolor in her early thirties. The $35 sale of a simple “on-location” watercolor to a fellow painter turned on the light in the old niche and dreams of an art life returned.  Within five years, divorced and independent, with young children, she had gained a toe-hold there, creating large semi-abstract watercolors, and traveling frequently to the Southwest to draw and exhibit work.

The toe-hold became a foothold and in the early 80's, her large, spare, mystical watercolor landscapes won her national awards and a Dolphin Fellow of the American Watercolor Society. She was elected to membership in the National Watercolor Society and National Association of Women Artists and her paintings were collected by corporations and published as posters and serigraphs - she was represented in regional and national galleries.

Quite suddenly, the niche doubled in size, enough to include fellow artist, William Preston, and a new life near Santa Fe, NM.  Never one to fear redecoration, she travelled and camped for painting material with her husband, made paintings and monotypes, gardened, kept chickens and a dog, founded a local studio tour,  and exhibited regularly and widely. She continued to explore her artistic horizons – successively, traditional landscapes, tinwork shrines, flower portraits, even several Painted Ponies.

Upon noting that her niche was somewhat secular and herself rather pear-like, she began to practice Yoga, developing an attraction to Buddhism and the Eastern philosophies and visual aesthetic as her husband pursued the practice of sumi-e.

The Hornbuckle niche today is still expanded, yet much simplified.  Abstraction, no longer so bold and geometric, now more subtle and meditative, is her preferred genre. Still keeping things lively and diverse, she creates figurative bronze sculptures and, honoring her roots, draws from the figure weekly.

M.Hornbuckle 2010