Author Q&A with Marla Faith

I grew up in Chicago and then went to Bard College and Kansas City Art Institute before receiving my BFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and my MS in Museum Leadership from Bank Street College in NYC. I’ve directed art education programs at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Guggenheim Museum, Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY, and Cheekwood in Nashville. I have loved teaching art in public and private schools since moving from NY to Nashville in 1990. In Nashville, I’ve had one person exhibits at The Parthenon, the airport, & Williamson County Enrichment Center; several two person exhibits, and been included in many juried and invitational exhibits throughout the states.
In 2017, Sheriar Press published my book of art and poetry, called “Listening to the Bones,” and in 2020 OmPoint Press published my book The Diver and the Pearl.

Art and writing have been my spiritual path, healing journey, psychological mirror, and a way of being a conduit to bring more beauty into the world. My art usually has a narrative thread that comes into being through playing with color, light, and form to achieve harmony and balance. My poetry is intuitive, as if I am channeling messages from a higher self. Please view my paintings, drawings, and collages at marlafaith.com, and read my poetry on Facebook at Marla Faith Poetry.

Marla’s latest book can be found below.

1. Tells us about your writing/ published book(s)

My recent book, published by OmPoint Press in the fall of 2020 is titled “The Diver and the Pearl; Story by Meher Baba and Hafiz, Art and Poetry by Marla Faith and guests.” It’s available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Sheriar Books. In it I illustrate the mystical tale of the pearl diver, as told by Hafiz and Meher Baba. Several other artists also offer up their visual and poetic interpretations of this parable. The second half of the book contains my art of Meher Baba with my poetry about him. I’ve been a devotee of this perfect master for over 40 years, and I have painted and drawn Him and made collages. Some of these are quite realistic and others are very whimsical. The poems are free form and I would say divinely inspired. Sometimes there are hints of Rumi and Hafiz, but mostly it is Meher Baba’s voice I hear coming through me. Both my art and poetry are meditative experiences that are similar to automatic writing. I should mention that Meher Baba ‘dropped the body’ in 1969, and I never met him in the flesh. He also kept silent for the last 44 years of his life.

My previous book was published in 2017 by Sheriar Press. It is titled “Listening to the Bones; Poemeditations and Art by Marla Faith.” This book is available through my website marlafaith.com, and through Amazon and Sheriar Books. My website is mainly my art (about 400 works on it), and my poetry is posted at Marla Faith Poetry on facebook. This book was put together just before I had a bone marrow stem cell transplant for myleofibrosis. The survival rate for this procedure is dicey so I wanted to have something to leave behind in case I didn’t make it.

The book is divided into 3 sections- Part one (dark) is a childhood memoir of poetry with my art to match it, Part two (gray) are poems of mourning (when my mother died), with supporting art, and Part 3 (light) contains mystical poetry and art. It is a journey that is passionate in color and words. So many art mediums and styles are represented. I chose my best and most meaningful poems and art for this collection.

2. Tell me about your current work

Currently my book that will soon be published is titled “Art of the Divine; Buddhist, Hindu, and Earth Gods and Goddesses, with Poetry.” I realized that I have made 50 artworks that depict these deities, in many mediums and styles. I wanted to gather them all together in one place. I’ve also written poetry that directly connects to some of these presences, such as Kali, Kuan Yin, Tree Goddess, etc, so I have included those as well. It’s quite a visually rich book which is colorful, deep, and uplifting.

I make art almost daily, and write often. I have another book in process titled “Bodies of Water; A Memoir Through the Elements.” This is a book of stories based on important memories that have to do with water, earth, fire, and air. I told a story during a local Moth radio hour, about the Nashville flood of 2010 that took my home. This opened the doorway to more stories. Of course they will be interspersed with relevant art. I am also contemplating making a cookbook about Cooking With Color. I create some beautiful meals, and they are often like edible colorful collages.

3. Where’s your favourite place to write?

I have a few favorite spots to write. This first one is sitting on my Zafu cushion at my meditation table. I will look into the eyes of the Meher Baba photograph on this altar, and the words will come to me. I will also sit in a chair at my bedside to write, as well as at the computer table in the next room. My other inspired place to write is in nature, specifically at Radnor Lake here in Nashville. I will climb up Ganier Ridge, sit on a bench, and take out my little book, allowing the breeze to clear my mind, and my sister trees to enter it.

4. What’s your favourite genre to read?

Novels, especially magical realism. Some of my favorite novelists are Amy Bloom, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Colum McCann. I like Carl Hiassen for escapist fun, and love the classics of Monkey by Wu Cheng En, and The Ramayana. I taught art history for years, so I like to read and learn about artists and movements. I’ve learned so much world history through the study of art history. I like myths and fairy tales, and children’s books. My all time favorite is Harold and the Purple Crayon. I really appreciate books for learning that are written fluidly, such as Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, anything by Susan Orleans, and The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery.

5. Have you always wanted to write?

It’s not wanting to write, it’s just doing it, like breathing. Art and writing are extensions of my arms. For self reflection, healing, meditation, these have been my medicines, along with walking in nature and doing yoga. I wanted to be a dancer but that did not come as naturally to me as the pen and pencil, so instead I choreograph and make my compositions in visual realms. I like to perform my poetry to bring it to life, and I’ve had the opportunity to be in plays for children and to tell lots of stories in my art classes.

I was introduced to poetry in middle school, and began keeping journals in high school. In college I tried a novel/short story writing class, but was much more at home in poetry. I am more of an appreciator of well written novels that a creator of them.

6. How do you approach starting a new book?

It’s interesting to me that I don’t plan it, it evolves. I’m a prolific art maker and writer of poems. I have a treasure trove of creative work that has come through me. I have

worked many years as an art teacher for all ages, in schools and museums, and now through Zoom. So I am constantly living in a creative realm, with ideas sprouting often. During these isolation pandemic times, it’s been a creative retreat for me, never boring, just finding enough time to let the prompts come to fruition.

So for these last two books, I reread many of my poems in years worth of journals, and chose the ones I felt were strongest. Then I looked through my abundant inventory of artworks, and chose ones that I felt best matched the poems. They were not made for each other, but the themes run through both, and it was a natural pairing where each gave the other more resonance and weight. The current book that I’m completing (of deities in my art), just came from pulling together the many images in my art that contain Hindu gods and goddesses. I then realized I had a bunch of Buddhist ones as well, and then also ones of Mother Earth. So I then looked through my past writing and found some poems that focused on specific deities, and voila! a book is born. I