Greg Rook on Marilyn Hallam’s meticulous methodology.
St Leonards-based artist Marilyn Hallam, born in Yorkshire in 1947, studied fine art at the University of Reading from 1965 to 1972. She was taught by Rita Donagh and Terry Frost, and remembers their conflicting yet complimentary approaches: Donagh would ask students to flick drawing pins onto sheets of paper, plotting their path – exploring Klee, Kandinsky and point, line and plane. Frost encouraged a more visceral enjoyment of colour. As a student, Marilyn wrote her dissertation on the Futurists and was fascinated by how they put drawings and photographs together, by how Léger built his compositions, and it seems possible that the twin influences of Donagh and Frost were instrumental in how Marilyn later built her compositions.
Marilyn has always sought to create an image that is fresh, resolved and open whilst avoiding getting caught up with naturalism – she describes her work as ‘depictive’ rather than naturalistic or figurative. The fear of overworking a painting, or too closely transcribing from what was in front of her, led Marilyn to develop compositional ideas away from the canvas. Starting with sketches or photographs, she would combine by overlapping, searching for the composition. Watching Marilyn in her studios over the years you would have seen reams of drawings, photographs, tracings and photocopies. Multiple options and compositions would be layered, cut and reappraised with acetates…
