Roz Marshall is a Welsh-born Canadian artist known for her vivid, richly decorative still-life paintings that celebrate colour, pattern, and pictorial space. Deeply influenced by the intricate designs of Middle Eastern art, the lush vibrancy of Hawaii where she currently resides, early Renaissance painting, and traditional British portraiture, her work explores the complexities of what it means to be female artist.
Marshall’s imagery reflects a lifelong assertion of feminine creativity, often resembling tapestries or quilts—compositions that honour traditional women’s work. Her subject matter is drawn from the intimate spaces of her life: gardens, fruit, pets, and vases of roses, all rendered with playful invention and emotional honesty. Her paintings are a synthesis of life experiences, rich in personal symbolism and visual storytelling, standing out for their bold use of colour and their thoughtful exploration of domestic and artistic identity.
Marshall grew up in a British Royal Air Force family, living in England, Washington D.C., Bahrain, and eventually Vancouver, BC, where her family settled when her father retired. She studied at the University of British Columbia (1965–66) and graduated with Honours in Painting from the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design) in 1970, mentored by Don Jarvis, Bruce Boyd, and Jack Shadbolt. She continued her studies in ceramics and drawing at High Wycombe College of Art in England (1971), and in printmaking at Alberta College of Art (1973–75).
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she received Canada Council grants to study and work in London and Florence. Over her career, she has held more than 50 solo exhibitions in Canada, Hawaii, and internationally, and her work was chosen to decorate the 1993 summit between President Bill Clinton and President Boris Yeltsin. She exhibited widely in the Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo art fairs throughout the 1990s and has been featured in over 25 publications. For more than 30 years, she has taught students from preschool to university. Since 2002, she has resided in Hawaii.
For all you deep art divers out there.
The Art Newspaper’s interview with Saib Eigner the author of Artists of the Middle East: 1900 to Now
More information on the Early Renaissance
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters website:The History of British Portraiture
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