Capanna explores relationships between time, place, image, and memory through performative, reflexive painting. Rockies, Riverboat, Tepees, Cattle depicts the busy activity of a winter village in a bygone era. In the mid-ground, a group of figures wait for a riverboat that approaches with a puff of steam. The open expanse of snow at center and the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the distance contrast with the dense mass of the crowd clothed in a compact pattern of striped and spotted textiles in the foreground.
Mariel Capanna obtained her BFA and certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and her MFA from Yale University. Her paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally with galleries including Adams and Ollman (Portland, OR), Central Park (Los Angeles, CA), Gross McCleaf Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), and Good Weather (North Little Rock, AR). She has been an artist in residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Haverford College, the Guapamacátaro Art and Ecology Residency in Michoacan, Mexico, and elsewhere, and she has received grants and fellowships from institutions including the Independence Foundation and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
