Marion Art Center to showcase works of Margaret Bruzelius and Nanci Worthington

MARION — Artists Margaret Bruzelius and Nanci Worthington will be featured in a new multimedia exhibition at the Marion Art Center, opening on Saturday, Oct. 11.

Bruzelius previously worked in the fashion business as a designer for hand knits for magazines such as Vogue Knitting and McCall’s Craft and Needlework. 

After shifting her career direction, Bruzelius earned a PhD in comparative literature from Yale University and proceeded to teach in literature programs at Harvard University and Smith College.

Now retired, she spends her time rug hooking and working in textiles — specifically woven rugs.

Worthington works as a natural scientific illustrator and earned a Master of Fine Arts in art and ecology from Goddard College. She has kept nature journals in New Marlborough for almost 50 years, and is mostly drawn to botanical subjects. 

While studying nature, Worthington became interested in a plant’s role in its ecosystem. She pondered the various aspects of the plants’ lives and uses — including questioning who eats the plants, what their uses were for indigenous and colonial healing methods and if they host insects or other creatures.

Using pen, pencil, paint, paper and measuring tools to create her art, Worthington’s work straddles the lines between nature, science and art. Ecological agency is a critical theme in her work, emphasizing the urgency of climate change.

A reception for the exhibition will be hosted from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 11, and an artist presentation will be held on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 11 a.m.

The exhibition will be open through Friday, Nov. 14. The Marion Art Center is located at 80 Pleasant Street. For more information, visit www.marionartcenter.org/on-exhibit.