Sylvia Rivera by Marvella Frey BGAS25

Marvella Frey

Marvella Frey is a painter living in Phoenix, Arizona. Born and raised on the East coast, she has spent the past twenty years in the Southwest, in California and Arizona. Her early art training included earning BA in Studio Art from the University of Maryland, specializing in oil painting and welding. She also holds a Master’s degree in Counseling from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. As a therapist, she incorporated her passion for art making and education in art therapy to work with adolescents in several states and earned several grants to develop art projects for working with youth to create community art. Marvella draws her inspiration to paint from the beauty and diversity of the natural world and the human spirit. Her most recent works are portraits of people who have influenced and inspired her, specifically those who are warriors for social change through art, music, politics and literature. Her work is inspired by the expressionists and she uses unexpected colors, bold brushstrokes and mark making to communicate mood and connection with the viewer. She has exhibited and sold her artwork at The Herberger Theater Art Gallery, The Vision Gallery, The Mood Room, The Arizona Art Guild, The Arizona Art Alliance, WHAM Gallery, The Gammage Theater, Ground Floor Artists Gallery, Exposed Studio, Cahokia Gallery, Desert Foothills Gallery and the Found:RE Gallery.