Artist Profile: Mariel Versluis
Published January 1, 2017 by Nicole Webb
Mariel Versluis
b. 1965
GVSU Alum and Professor of printmaking and drawing at the Kendall College of Art and Design, Mariel Versluis’ work often focuses on the landscape of West Michigan. Her childhood, which was spent on a farm, influences her work, whether it be in her woodblock prints, drawings, or 3-dimensional sculptures. Versluis’ images include themes of transition, transformation, and time through her symbolic use of the natural world. Flora and fauna, such as dogs, horses, and swans, have played an important role in her recent works as reminders of life’s changes and lessons.
Mariel Versluis, Northern Woods, oil pastel, ca 1995, 1998.356.1.
Mariel Versluis, Wind, State I, reduction woodcut, 2002, 2002.436.1.
Mariel Versluis, The Small Orchard at Dusk, color reduction woodblock print, 1991, 1999.977.1.