Malia aka Helen Marie Keuterickx January 8, 1940 to January 31, 2014 In Maries own words: At the age of three I told my mother that I knew I was going to be an artist! And so my story begins, with my first art award for a water color painting I did in Junior High School art class. Very proudly my mother and I went to see my award winning work on display at a local art gallery, and found my painting to be hung up side down!! While in High School, I won my second art award in a competition with all the local southern California schools. I was awarded a gold key pendant, and had my work hung at a downtown Los Angeles art gallery for a month. Through all of my years I had never thought to worry about what I would do when I grew up. I am an artist and I have always been an artist. I went on to study at the renowned Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. My art career included art restoration and related services for some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and Los Angeles’s highest dignitaries along with prominent museums. Now I await the opening of a Museum on the island of Futuna in the South Pacific, which will display some of the paintings I did inspired by my many visits to, and the people of, the French colony of Wallis and Futuna . The museum will also display many artifacts that I collected over the years documenting the art and culture of the many islands in the South Pacific. Along with the artifacts, I also collected a name while on the Islands, a name which I have used as my artist name ever since. I sign all my work with the Islands interpretation of my birth name, Marie, but the artist in me is named Malia . My painting career has ended in recent years due to the affects of an over ten year battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Maries work was most recently displayed in an exhibit at the California capital in 2013 Marie passed away this morning but she will forever live on in her art work and in the hearts of those of us that loved her. I am privileged to have had her as a mentor and a friend - Virginia
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 19:44:57 +0000
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