Designer Created Her Own Path To A Creative Life

By Laurie Borst

Marlene Pixley’s story is not your average tale. On May 26, she received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She did not follow the traditional route to a college degree.

School started at Middle Gate Elementary School, followed by three years at Newtown Middle School. Marlene recalls being interested in art “for as long as I can remember.” One of her first jobs was helping her mother who worked at Bear Hills Pottery. Thus began her obsession with ceramics. In sixth grade, Marlene was accepted into the gifted art program. She continued with the program through middle school.

In high school, Marlene did her best to avoid any class that was not related to art. Art teachers Joyce Hannah and Diane Dutchick taught her much about art and, she offers, “always gave me a place to be when I needed to do something productive.” Her sojourn at Newtown High School was cut short as she reports, “I happily dropped out as soon as I was legally old enough to do so.” Marlene had earned a GED by the time the rest of her class (2001) graduated.

Marlene credits her mother, Janice, with teaching her the most about art. “She was always giving me advice, inspiration, and sewing lessons,” Marlene relates.

When Marlene first began considering careers, costume design caught her interest. She volunteered to work on the costumes for the school production of Guys and Dolls. The bloom was off the rose when she realized how temperamental actors and actresses could be. Marlene describes it as “one of the most irritating experiences of my whole life.”

After earning her GED, Marlene and her boyfriend, Tom Olivares, moved to San Francisco. Never having visited the city, Marlene needed to prove to herself that she could handle anything. With no money or friends, she and Tom found themselves in “the tenderloin,” one of the worst areas of the city.

Both young people enrolled at the Academy of Art, Tom to study film and Marlene unsure of what she wanted to do. She tried fashion design, which proved serendipitous. Marlene did not care for fashion design, but found, and fell in love with, textile design.

“It’s great because I draw and screen print all day, and that is my idea of heaven,” she says.

Marlene loves Japanese textiles because they have such labor-intensive processes to create them. The designs are composed of many elements “that blend to create one enviable piece of fabric. Everything about them seems perfect to me,” she said.

Tom and Marlene have moved out of the tenderloin, “with a little luck and a lot of hard work, we have accomplished something.” On May 24, Marlene’s textiles were featured in an Academy fashion show and, the following day, Tom screened his first feature film, Unflinching Triumph.

Marlene worked with a team of graduate students pursuing their MFAs in fashion design. They took her fabrics and created clothing. Marlene’s and the design team’s collection was selected to be showcased at Wilkes Bashford’s flagship store in San Francisco. Mr Bashford has received many honors for his work in the fashion industry.

Marlene is planning to return to Connecticut after graduation. She hopes to work out of New York as a textile designer. Marlene’s artistic interests also include ceramics, jewelry making, lithography, paper making, and arc welding. Samples of her work can be viewed on her website, marlenepixley.com.