Marabeth Quin

Artist Bio
Marabeth Quin



Marabeth Quin moved to Nashville, Tennessee from her home state of Arkansas in 1987 and immediately embarked on a career as a studio musician. For the past 20 years she has worked with some of the most talented musicians in the behind-the-scenes Nashville studio world and sung on projects ranging from movie soundtracks and recordings, to live tours for artists as diverse as Vince Gill, Joan Baez, George Jones, LeeAnn Womack and many others.
Eight years ago, in need of a creative opening that had nothing to do with earning a living, she reintroduced herself to her misplaced childhood loves of painting and writing and began once again exploring the images and ideas that have no expectations or distinct purpose attached to them. As a result, her art has become a space of great autonomy and clarity, as well as pleasure, in her life.
“I see painting as one way in which I can contribute to the world; first, by helping myself to realize the full extent to which we are all linked, to the earth and to one another, and hopefully then to further someone else in their own unfolding realization of their essential place in the world.”
Marabeth works from her home studio in Nashville.

My finest therapy hours have been spent in my garden or hiking in the woods, so it is a logical evolution that my paintings bear witness to the harmony and realignment that comes out of my experiences there. Never having outgrown my love of color, texture and nature, all three take a prominent place in my process. I use gesso to produce rich texture and paint over it using layer upon layer of transparent acrylic color. When a varnish coat is finally applied, each color rises to the fore, and the result is a vibrancy that has a creamy, dreamlike appearance not experienced with opaque paint.

My adulthood has been occupied by experiences in which I could learn to see the unity in things that might otherwise appear to be opposing. In this tiny space where two opposites become one is where I get my sense of reverence and magic that my paintings spring from. My work tends to have both an earthiness and otherworldly quality that beckons the viewer to consider not only the playful simplicity of nature, but also to see beyond the merely “beautiful” to glimpse a true and unseen world that we all, on some level, cannot explain but recognize.