Park City Gallery Spotlight // Gallery MAR
We are pleased to introduce our third installment in our monthly blog series that showcases all of our wonderful Park City galleries on a rotating basis! A prestigious and diverse art scene awaits visitors and local art aficionados alike throughout Park City’s historic district and beyond.
Every month we will be telling the story of a local gallery and the gallerists and artists behind them. For this month’s spotlight we spoke with Gallery MAR’s owner, Maren Mullin, who’s gallery is located on 436 Main St in Park City. Check out Gallery MAR’s website here, and subscribe to their monthly newsletter for gallery updates and inspiration on their homepage!
Arts Council: Tell me a bit about Gallery MAR.
Maren Mullin: The gallery was established in 2008. It started in a smaller space and then we moved into this space about 8 years ago. We feature museum quality art and we represent 35 artists who are known nationally.
Gallery MAR is a place where brilliant artistic vision meets the everyday lives of collectors around the globe. We seek to educate and inspire collectors while supporting and encouraging artists. While the diverse array of artwork is consistently changing, yet the standard of artistic talent and superior customer service remains the same.
AC: How did Gallery MAR come about?
MM: I moved to Park City in 2003 and started doing a whole bunch of interesting odd jobs. I got a part time job at a gallery and just loved it. I worked for Meyer Gallery for 4 years as their Director. It was such a wonderful experience working for Susan. She’s an incredible mentor. But I always wanted to have my own business so I saved up and started looking for spaces and took it from there.
We just opened a second gallery in Carmel. In April I got a call from a previous associate who wanted to open a gallery, so I brought him on as my partner and he has moved to Carmel and is running Gallery MAR Carmel there! There are a lot of similar artists and some different artists featured at Gallery MAR Carmel. The gallery in Carmel is its own separate business where Tom is really running it and it’s a joy to see him flourishing and I get to be a mentor for him.
AC: How do you curate the artists you put in the gallery?
MM: We have a focus on Mountain West artists here but we also have artists from California and other places. So we pull from all over.
AC: Do you have favorite pieces?
MM: Oh my gosh I always do. Every once in awhile I have to buy something and take it home with me. The nice thing is we’re always getting fresh new pieces. I love spending time with the art in the gallery. Recently we did a yoga session here in the gallery. We had about twenty people in here doing yoga and it was so interesting to look at the art while laying down doing yoga or looking at it upside down. It was really cool to see it from a different perspective.
AC: Tell me more about these Immersive Collector Experiences that you have.
MM: We create an event our featured artists and we invite our collectors from the gallery to attend. We have events such as yoga or recently we went to Blue Sky Ranch with photographer Maura Allen and had breakfast and a discussion followed by target throwing with a hatchet. The collectors that joined the event had the privilege of getting their portraits taken by Allen which will be made into their very own work of art.
AC: Are you an artists yourself?
MM: Yes I have an art degree. I love to do watercolor sketches when I travel, so anytime I go somewhere on a trip I bring a little sketchbook and just do a little sketch of my surroundings and my experience in a place.
AC: Park City is such an inspiring place, do you have a place in the area that specifically inspires you?
MM: There are so many beautiful places. My girls love to go down by the McPolin Barn and play in the silos and find all the little animals. I love taking photos of my girls against these amazing landmarks. I also love anywhere up and over Guardsman’s Pass, it’s so beautiful up there. We have an artist who lives up in that area and in wintertime she has to snowmobile the paintings to us. We’re dear friends so sometimes I’ll go up and paint with her or take a hike. It’s dreamy.
AC: Has the way you curated your gallery changed over time?
MM: No I don’t think the gallery’s style has changed. I think our processes have changed in the way that we curate and run our business. So much in the beginning was flying by the seat of my pants and now 11 years in we have more of a practice that we follow. I think the original vision of what I wanted in the gallery, the feel, the scope of work and the type of artists is still very much the same.
AC: Why do you think art is important?
MM: Well there’s so many different ways to be an artist and create art. I think what is more important than the idea of art is finding what that means for you. Whether that means being in nature, painting, sculpting, dancing, or writing. I think finding that act or that practice is really where the beauty is. I love surrounding myself with two dimensional and three dimensional works of art. It enriches the soul. It adds color and lightto your life but finding whatever your way of practicing art is, is even more valuable. And for a lot of people that means collecting. They don’t feel that they’re able to create something, so they take on the artist’s personality and vision and bring it into their own home.
A woman recently came in and purchased this painting and it was the first work of art she purchased, and it’s so “her”. The colors, the textures. She’s picking a piece of art that reflects her personality and she’s decorating her home with it.
It’s really interesting to see how people are taking art from the gallery and incorporating it into their world.
Read more about Gallery MAR and their rotating exhibitions on their website https://www.gallerymar.com/, or stop by Gallery MAR, located at 436 Main St in Park City.
Gallery MAR is a member of the Park City Gallery Association, which supports and promotes Park City galleries in a number of ways, one of which is hosting a Last Friday Gallery Stroll, a fun (and free) monthly community event that runs from 6:00-9:00 PM on the last Friday of each month, dedicated to highlighting artists and special exhibits at art galleries throughout town.