Bio

Marjorie Kouns is a New York-based artist whose work is shown worldwide. Her current work focuses on connecting the public to art by encouraging active participation in the creative process.
“I get excited to see how the creative mind works in others by giving them the opportunity to try their own hand at this task,” says Kouns.

Kouns' current work, Well-Lit Chess Pieces, project for Washington Square Park 2005-06, is sponsored in part by Starbucks Neighborhood Park Grants Program, Knickerbocker Village NY, Inc., and Signature Properties NY, Inc. and is fiscally sponsored by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. This two-part public arts project includes oversized Chess game pieces, and whimsical lampshades to adorn 26 tall standing lights along the four corner park entrances. Permanent public works on view include Sarkahc Neves a lighting installation in Time Square, NYC, and Peace Crane, a sculpture erected in tribute to Hiroshima victims at the Josephine Butler Parks Center in Washington, D.C. commissioned by Earth Day New York.

Recent Works

Body As Canvas performance series of dance, music and painting in Los Angeles and New York City, and Omniart honoring Art Basel/Miami 2004-05
Murals commissioned by Children's Aid Society (Deutsche Bank / sponsor) and New York Cares Day: painted by Kouns and elementary school students
Cultural Monitors: at Lefferts Jr. High (M.S. 61), Brooklyn, NY. October 2002
Human Sundial: at St. Anne's (P.S. 277), Bronx, NY. October 2001
We Salute The Arch: Washington Square Park Arch. September 2001
A public arts project done in conjunction with the Washington Square Coalition, NYU Community Affairs, and Materials for the Arts - NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs. Kouns guided students in creating their own miniature styrofoam arches.
Hudson River Park Day 2001: Piers 25 and 26. June 2001
A public arts project done in conjunction with Materials for the Arts - NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs. Kouns and local children explored Hudson River marine life by creating supersized styrofoam fish as well as human sundials.
Arch Supports: Washington Square Park Arch, June 2001, in conjunction with Materials for the Arts - NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs. Kouns and second grade students of P.S. 41 created murals, flowers, and human sundials along the fence surrounding Washington Square Arch.
Women, Homes and Community: United Nations headquarters, Summer 2001. Designed an exhibit of photographs, posters, and reports used to illustrate the findings of the Huairou Commission for the United Nations Grassroots Women's International Academy.
In September of 1997, Kouns was commissioned by the Mother Centers (a German non-governmental organization), to present the Satellite Mural Project: three murals painted with the participation and collaboration of children and parents who are residents of Mother Centers in Stuttgart, Hamburg and Munich.