I did have a website at mariegracie.com promoting my work and classes I offered, but times change and this will be shut down when the licence expires. I have set out some extracts from it below. for posterity.  Since starting to travel I don't seem to have done much art (!) but I intend to carry on doing at least one exhibition a year, the profits from which go to charity. Above is a picture of my last exhibition in November 2023. 

 

STOP PRESS - Will be back teaching at the Old School Wolverton from September 2024.

 

​Recreating the world through different media

 

I enjoy making my own work and host an exhibition annually. I have been running my own art courses for some years through my business SCAN Arts and started teaching younger artists as part of my role as Artist in Residence for MK College in 2019/2020. Now I work freelance and I am particularly interested in working with young people and the third sector. I have found that people who have trouble engaging in some parts of their life can often be encouraged to engage with art in its many forms and feel good about what they produce.   I ran the Arts stream for the Making Tracks Programme, which supports adults with autism, at the Old School Wolverton and I supported them by running a programme of creative activities to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee.  I devised and ran a similar community art programme in my own village as part of the 2023 Coronation celebrations. 

 

BIOG

I come from a creative family and I’ve always loved art.  For many years I worked in the pub industry and my role centred around compliance and legal issues.  I should have known that once I started wanting to interfere with interior design matters for the pubs and hotels, things were going to change! I got involved with buying original art for sites and designed a revamp of the head office reception area. 

​I became a regular at local art classes in my spare time. Eventually I took the plunge, gave up my links with the business world and enrolled on a full-time arts course at Milton Keynes College. After that I was invited to stay on as Artist in Residence, which was a great experience, cut a little short by the arrival of a global pandemic!

​During 2020 I established my own studio in Newport Pagnell where I also taught and held exhibitions. I enjoy working in a variety of media and most of what I do nowadays involves combining elements of print, collage and photography.  But I am restless artist and have never settled on one particular media or style.

​I run SCAN Arts which provides creative workshops and teaching services for groups and individuals.   Sharing the creativity I enjoy so much is what really makes me tick and I am as happy working with individuals as teaching in local educational establishments or for the charitable sector.  I do really believe that art is good for people.  As well as running my own workshops I have also taught at Milton Keynes College and the Old School House in Wolverton. In August 2024 I am part of the team delivering an arts summer school in Oxford.  Art & Craft Courses | Oxford Summer School 2024 (oxfordshireartandcraft.co.uk)

​I have exhibited at 200 Silbury Gallery, Milton Keynes Gallery, Westbury Arts Centre, Arts Central, in my studio and in my home. I have also taken part in digital exhibitions for MK College and Arts for Health MK. 

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TESTIMONIALS

'Marie has a passion for the art, a passion that she shares with enthusiasm and intelligence. Marie’s experimental approach to using materials and techniques offers a chance to explore both traditional and contemporary ways of creating artwork in new and interesting ways.'

Kyle Kirkpatrick, Deputy Head of School - Art & Design, Milton Keynes College

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​'Marie is the lead tutor on the Arts Pathway of our "Making Tracks" programme for autistic adults. She teaches and supports our trainees, many of whom had been socially isolated due to the COVID 19 pandemic, through a series of artistic explorations, which gives them new skills as well as self-confidence and self-esteem.

She helps the trainees recognise what they can achieve and appreciate what they have to offer to the working world. Her work is of the highest quality, and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending her.'

Marie Osborne, Chief Executive, Old School Wolverton

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'Marie prepared and delivered weekly sessions as part of our Making Tracks project for autistic adults who are looking to move on in their employment journeys. Marie demonstrated her organised professionalism and caring nature during her successful delivery of the Arts pathway.  She created session plans, documented outcomes and revised future plans, whilst considering the vastly differing needs of each trainee.  In addition to delivering a programme of activities that led trainees to produce saleable items in the Old School shop, she worked with each trainee to develop their "STEPS" story.  This involved helping them to identify where they had demonstrated soft skills.

​Marie played a vital role in developing the confidence of the trainees along with their artistic skills, as well as giving support to other pathway leads.'

​Rachel Sutton, Project Leader, Making Tracks Programme for Old School Wolverton

 

PHOTO INFO

Above View from my November 2023 exhibition in support of the Winter Night Shelter MK

Below Pine needles and paint thrown around on holiday used as a background to a photograph from the absolutely excellent (and free)  CultureSpot | Archaeological Museum of the Paphos District where I spent a very happy few hours.