Independent Arts News Reporting 
Pictured Above: Inside Denise Marshall’s studio. Photo Credit: Contributed.
Weaving the Picture
Arts News Now features writer, Amy Masgay goes in-studio to interview New Hope photographer and artist, Denise Marshall.
By: Amy Masgay
After a forty-year career as a photographer focusing on landscapes, portraits, and the odd event, Denise Marshall did what a lot of us did during the COVID-19 pandemic. She tried something new.
The abstract photography class she enrolled in had produced a critique she couldn’t get out of her head. “Linear.” For her last assignment with this particular class, where she had to shoot six new photographs for her final presentation, Denise was going to tackle that critique of her work head on.
Taking her photographs from a beautiful, clear day, she surprised herself when she began cutting the images into strips, with no plan of where this process would take her. Then, inspiration struck, and she began to weave together the strips from two different pictures, and created a new, textured image, one that certainly could not be called “linear.”
As she completed the rest of the pieces for her final presentation with a similar weaving style, and she began to share the work with friends and family, the feedback was clear. This technique, and the final art it produced, was special.
I was able to join Denise in her home studio at the start of the year, where she was gracious enough to walk me through her process, or rather, her experimenting. That was my key takeaway from our time together. Everything is an experiment when an artist is creating their own methodology.
Pictured Above: Inside Denise Marshall’s New Hope, PA studio. Photo Credit: Contributed.
“It’s a learning experience,” as Denise said.
Her learning experience began right away, when she realized she was having a difficult time keeping her woven lines straight, causing the images to not align properly. Denise called her friend, who is a loom weaver, and asked her how she kept her lines straight. When asked for clarification, Denise told her, “I’m weaving my photographs.”
“I’m coming right over,” said her friend, and she immediately did.
That same friend happened to be curating a show at New Hope Arts called Weaving Reimagined.
“It was made for you!” I remarked to Denise, because the stars really did seem to align for her to have this particular opportunity, with this particular work, at this particular show. The friend chose five pieces that she loved for the show, and so began Denise’s journey to showcasing her photography weaving.
During this time, however, Denise was also battling a difficulty much greater than uncooperative paper. In March of 2021, she received a breast cancer diagnosis and chose to undergo a double mastectomy. As she prepared for her lifesaving surgery, she didn’t have the proper mindset to prepare titles for her work that would appear in Weaving Reimagined. Since then, she’s learned to put her Instagram following to good use, and often invites her followers to name her completed pieces for her, a personal forfeiture of control that most artists would never dream of giving up.
But that’s what so much of this process seems to be for Denise, from that very first cut she took to her original photography. In order to create something even more unique and powerful, she had to, in a way, “destroy” her own work. The final product makes it clear that the process is worth it, but to be willing to take the scissors and see what happens is a leap of faith in and of itself.
Denise has kept herself very busy in the years since her first photographic weaving and her recovery. Continuing to experiment is a key factor in that, especially when it comes to the type of paper she works with.
(I didn’t even know paper made of carrots was a thing, yet that’s what she showed as a special order for an upcoming project.)
Pictured Above: Inside Denise Marshall’s New Hope, PA studio. Photo Credit: Contributed.
Sometimes, she’ll order interesting papers without a project in mind, and she’ll hold onto it until the right time and subject present themselves.
“When you’re a photographer and you’re printing your work, you’re not looking for paper that can weave.”
Yet, when you’re weaving, suddenly the creativity with the materials used becomes a lot more varied.
She also continues to experiment with different weaving patterns, and has begun trying out a technique known as encaustic painting, which uses a combination of clear beeswax and resin heated up in a special gun and painted over the surface of the woven picture. This provides a unique texture to the piece, even in addition to the texture of the weaving pattern itself.
The more of her art that she shows me to demonstrate these techniques, the more I realized how every surface of her workspace is covered in works in progress.
“It’s not very neat in here,” Denise lamented.
“No one wants to see a neat artist’s studio,” I assured her, which I’m confident is one hundred percent accurate.
It’s a testament to just how much work she’s been producing. It’s work that, according to her, isn’t very political, focusing largely on landscapes and the abstract. However, in the roughly two hours we spent together in her studio, some of the pieces I loved learning the most about were “Going Backwards,” which she created in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a series of pieces on banned books, all of which sold out in record time, and a weaving of a photograph taken at a Pride parade, which she donated for auction at the New Hope Celebrates Love is Love Gala.
Like many artists, Denise responds to the moment, and lets her art do the talking.
“Every year, I make goals,” Denise shared with me. “My wishes for 2024 were to:
–To sell my weavings. (Check!)
–To have a gallery represent me. (Not really, but pretty close.)
–To get into a prestigious show. (I got into a show in London!)
–To get into a gallery. (Done!)
–To get into a museum. (I got into the Hunterdon Art Museum!)
–To take a new workshop. (Done!)
–To delve deeper into my creativity. (Done!)
In addition to these goals, Denise shared that her word for 2024 was “growth.”
This was certainly achieved when she opened up her first pop up location in Stockton, New Jersey. From October 3rd to December 29th, she saw 500 guests enter her location. During that time, she invested in gallery lights and a security system, despite her time there being temporary. Now she is on the lookout for a permanent home to showcase her work, hopefully this time with some heat for those cold, winter months.
As she continues her photography, her weaving, and her experimenting in 2025, she can already check one of this year’s goals off her list. Denise has officially broken into the New York art scene, with her work recently appearing at the Sims Contemporary Art Gallery in Chelsea. Next, she has her sights set on another international show.
And then, who knows? It’s all a big experiment, after all, and I can’t wait to see the final picture.
Pictured Above: Denise Marshall in studio. Photo Credit: Contributed.
