Marley Kaul may be one of the most devoted master painters you have not yet heard of. Or he may be an artist and a teacher-philosopher you have admired and learned from during his long life as a painter. This book serves as his final exhibition. A dazzling celebration of color and artistic expression, the retrospective presents more than 300 images of paintings created from 1961, before Kaul became an art professor, to 2021, the year he died. Kaul's body of work includes paintings rendered in acrylic, casein, oil, gouache, watercolor, and egg tempera, done on canvas, paper, and wood panels. His wife, art curator and weaver Sandra Staehle Kaul; son Stephen Kaul; and daughter, Allison Kaul DeLeone, organized this collection of artworks and writings.
The book introduces Marley Kaul by sketching his biography and his painting process. Artist Lou Ferreri offers his view of Kaul's process, observed in the days when they shared a studio at the University of Oregon. From there, the book unfoldes chronologically--from mid-20th century to early 21st century--with each chapter showing paintings from particular periods. Throughout the arc of his artistic life, Kaul wrote about his paintings and his craft. Each chapter includes a number of those insights, instructions, and musings.
Marley Kaul, Paintings is a synthesis of all that he accomplished as an artist.
Marley Kaul was born in Good Thunder, Minnesota, in 1939. Growing up on a family farm, Kaul experienced the rhythms of agrarian life, which deeply influenced his artistic vision. His early interests and talents included drawing, singing in church choir, and playing basketball and baseball.
In 1962 Kaul earned a Bachelor of Science in secondary art education at Mankato State University. While there, he met art student Sandra Staehle, and they married in fall 1962. That same year, Kaul began teaching high-school art in nearby Le Sueur.
In 1964 Kaul completed a Master of Science in secondary art education at Mankato State University. He accepted a one-year teaching position at Bemidji State University, which turned into a 30-year tenure track role. He took a year's leave of absence to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in painting at the University of Oregon, Eugene. Returning to BSU in northern Minnesota, Professor Kaul inspired generations of students in painting and drawing. Continuing to create his own artworks in oil, watercolor, casein, gouache, and egg tempera, Professor Kaul was also a working artist and a role model for students.
Kaul retired at age 57 to focus entirely on painting. In his prolific painting career, he produced more than 500 works and exhibited in galleries and museums in Minneapolis and throughout the Midwest. His art celebrates the beauty of everyday life, blending natural and domestic themes with spiritual and metaphoric depth. Kaul and his wife, Sandy, published three books of his paintings-Letters to Isabella, We Sit, and For Now. Marley Kaul passed away in 2021, just as he and Sandy were beginning work on their fourth book, a comprehensive hardcover of more than 300 images documenting his 60- year painting career, from 1961 to 2021.
Along with Sandy, their son Stephen Kaul and daughter Allison Kaul DeLeone picked up the mantle to finish his last book. In this magnificent retrospective Marley Kaul Paintings and in his vibrant original works, Kaul's artistic legacy endures.
