Sundown Salon #14: Showdown! - TINA MARRIN

Tina Marrin is an artist and knitter in the Los Angeles area. Born in Burbank, California in 1968, her first painting depicted yellow daisies sitting in a white water pitcher. The still life was executed with unusual finesse however the signature: "Tina 1973" had every number painted backwards (o.k. not the one). Tina continued her art practice through the years, graduating with a Bachelor's in Fine Art from UC Riverside and then a Masters in Fine Arts from CalArts. While at CalArts Tina was first exposed to knitting by her friend and artist Ashley Thorner who was working on a pair of giant powder pink angora breasts. Around this same time during an internship at the Museum of Jurassic Technology Tina was awarded a Los Angeles City Cultural Affairs Department Grant to curate and produce "Garden of Eden on Wheels" an exhibition which is still on view at the Museum. A 2 year artist residency at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston was Tina's next stop after grad school.

Creating artworks & knitted creations (and sometimes merging the two disciplines in portrait rug tapestries) continues to be Tina's consistent practice. Art wise, her Koi Fish portraits can be seen most recently in the March/April 2004 issue of Koi USA Magazine. And the knitted creations are seen in the Winter 2003 issue of Interweave Knits. The book "Knitting Lessons: tales from the knitting path" written by Lela Nargi contains an interview with Tina and Knit Cafe mastermind Susan Mischer. On July 2, 2004 the TV show "Knitty Gritty" will premier Tina as a "knitster" with some of her knitting on the DIY Cable Network. www.interweave.com