Marilyn Pappas (B 1931) American, Oil & Collage on Wood Panel. Titled "Love is the Answer." Depicting a red heart balloon drifting in a cage on a black and gray background, a letter from author Irish Murdoch prominent in foreground. Signed lower left, titled and attributed on reverse.

Overall Size: 25 x 25 1/4 in. 

Sight Size: 24 x 24 1/4 in. 

Depth: 1 3/4 in. 

#2632 . 

Marilyn Pappas was born in 1931 in Brockton, Massachusetts. At an early age she became fascinated with the textiles of the indigenous Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag Tribes, as well as local folk art by the descendants of the original European settlers and whalers in the area. She attended Massachusetts College of Art and Design, graduating in 1952 after focusing on collages and fabric/fiber art. She studied art education at Pennsylvania State University, obtaining her Masters in 1960. At that point she began making art regularly, with exhibitions all along the East Coast, as well as in San Francisco and Switzerland, which earned her a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. She taught at MassArt from 1974 through 1994, retiring as Professor Emerita. Pappas’ work is in the collections of the Krannert Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her large-scale work “Nike with Broken Wings” was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery’s 50th Anniversary Campaign, and in 2022 the Fuller Craft Museum held a retrospective of her life’s work.