Mother of two, wife to one and an artist to a community, Carrie Marill turned her passion for painting into a 9-to-5 job.
When Marill left graduate school at Cornell University, her one goal was to be able to provide for herself by doing what she loves. By moving to Phoenix with her husband, Matthew Moore, she was able to do just that while making a mark on the city.
She and Moore have opened up Combine Studios, a multi-use live/work space on Third and Garfield streets. It serves as affordable housing for the ASU Art Museum International Artist Residency Program.
The couple’s expansion was inspired by local artist Beatrice Moore, who rented the young couple their first studio space on Grand Avenue.
“She was kind of a mentor for me in the community, in terms of owning property and using it in a positive way to help the community grow,” Marill said. “Matt and I have sort of emulated that with Combine Studios.”
Combine Studios has become an anchor in the community, Marill said.
“A lot of artists have moved through that building, and it was up for sale when we were looking for studio spaces to buy, and I guess it was just fortuitous that the timing was right,” she said.
The south wall behind Combine Studios sat blank until February. Marill had waited for inspiration to strike her before she painted it. While changing her son’s diaper earlier this year, she noticed a spiral crocheted piece of art in his room.
After studying it, Marill decided the colorful spiral would make a great mural for her building.
“I’m always looking,” she said. “I’m looking online. I’m looking at the library. I’m looking at books. I’m always looking at things to feed me and those generate ideas, compositions and concepts.”
Marill painted the mural with help from her friend and installation artist Melinda Bergman.
“She has an amazing sense of color and style,” Bergman said. “She works really hard, but in an effortless way.”
Marill describes her style as “pop minimalist”: all the graphic colors of pop art with a heavy focus on composition.
The spiral on Combine Studios was Marill’s second mural downtown — the first was the ode to San Francisco street artist Margaret Kilgallen, a woman riding a bicycle with a long trail of flowers falling behind, on Second and Roosevelt streets.
She doesn’t get paid for her murals — for her, it’s enough that her art is out in the public for people to see and react to. But she said the experience of putting art out in the open is still nerve-racking.
“It’s difficult to be an artist because you’re putting yourself in the spotlight,” Marill said. “You’re putting this thing that’s very personal, and you’re working on it in your own space then you’re putting it out for people to do what they may with it, either judge it or like it or have their own point of view toward it.”
In addition to her public arts efforts, Marill has about three exhibitions per year where she sells her work. Marill said she has to be working constantly to produce enough art to “feed me literally and metaphorically.”
Marill is now working on her third mural in downtown Phoenix, located on GROWop’s front porch at Sixth and Garfield streets. She has taken a break from her most recent mural — once the mosquitoes stop biting, she will finish the piece. Titled “Hand Tools,” it’s inspired by the trowels, spades and other tools used in the business’ community garden.
She was sought after by GROWop co-owner Josh Hahn, who has known Marill for many years through her involvement in the Roosevelt Row art district.
“We wanted someone that was known in the neighborhood but maybe didn’t have a lot of representation,” Hahn said.
Marill is becoming more known in the community with every painting. She works 40 hours a week, like many professionals, in order to make the impact she does. But unlike many, she said she actually wants to get up and go to work in the morning.
“I would not be a fun person if I didn’t make work,” Marill said. “I think I’d probably be institutionalized. It’s my world.”
Contact the reporter at courtney.pedroza@asu.edu
