Marge Levine

Levine uses pastels to create pieces like the ones featured above.

A life without art is unimaginable to Marge Levine. In fact, she says if she were not an artist, she would simply be “nothing.”

Levine is an impressionist artist living in Atlantic Highlands. She uses pastels to create landscapes and still lifes inspired by her surroundings.

But before developing her current style, Levine worked in New York City as a textile designer.  After two years of searching for work without success, she began making hand-painted greeting cards, and, eventually, drawings and paintings. About eight years ago, she discovered pastels, and has stuck with the medium ever since.

“I worked in pen and ink, I worked in colored pencils, I did etching, but they never really satisfied my craving to do something larger that had more meaning for me,” she says. “I had seen people working in pastels, so I tried using [them] and I fell in love.”

Now, Levine uses pastels to create landscapes. Her favorite places to work are in New Mexico, California, and the New Jersey Sea Coast. She was also inspired by her trip to Italy.

Each painting generally takes three or four days, and Levine tries to work in the field when the weather permits her to. When she isn’t outdoors, Levine teaches classes and leads “paintouts.” Her students aren’t the only ones that benefit from the classes, though.

“As I learn from other people’s mistakes, I learn about my own mistakes, and with every painting I learn something new,” she says. “My paintings surprise me because you run into problems with each painting, and the solving of those problems is what becomes the teaching part.”

Levine still feels she has much to learn about pastels, and continues to be interested in the medium. Her objective with each piece is simple.

“I want [people] to appreciate as I do the beauty in everyday things that don’t make a huge impact on us,” she says. “When we look at them in a painting we see that they’re very beautiful indeed.”

Marge Levine can be reached by phone at 732-872-8965. Her work can be viewed online at mlevine.artspan.com or in person at The Artful Deposit in Bordentown City and at the James Yorosh Gallery in Holmdel. Throughout August, her work will be featured in a group show at the Great Pacific Gallery in Point Pleasant. Levine will be participating in a “paintout” at Bayonet Farm on September 12^th. Marge can also be found on the MCAC’s Artist Registry.