Marion Gray
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Marion Gray (September 14, 1934, Oakland, California – September 2, 2016, Mission District, San Francisco) was an American artist, photographer, and teacher.[1] A vital member of the Bay Area art scene since the 1970s, Gray's "work blurs the lines between documentation and art, and exposes shared approaches between artists working in dance, performance and visual arts."[2] During her long career, Gray documented the performances and works of artists such as John Cage, Christo and Jeanne Claude, Merce Cunningham, Joan Jonas, Marina Abramovic, Meredith Monk, Paul Dresher, Guerrilla Girls, and many others. As curator Christina Linden explains: "her photographs, themselves powerful works of art, constitute an immensely valuable archive of the ephemeral artistic activity the Bay Area has historically fostered.”[3]
In 1975 Gray completed her studies at the University of California, Berkeley in Art History and Art Practice. She studied with Peter Selz, Jim Melchert, Peter Voulkos, and Joan Brown.
It was during her final year that Gray attended a lecture by the artists Christo and Jeanne Claude who were discussing their upcoming project for Marin and Sonoma counties, the "Running Fence." She was hired to work with the Christos on the project in 1976. The project proved to be the beginning of her career, as she documented the "Running Fence," using still and moving cameras.
