Stephen Marr was born and raised in a tiny coastal village, Yamba, on the north coast of NSW Australia in the fifties and sixties, an environment he describes as, "saturated with poetic imagery and wonderful characters, half the town was drunk before noon". He vividly remembers drawing with sticks in the sand, barefoot in the one room school and his first teacher encouraging his drawings of trawlers heading out to sea surrounded by sharks:"It was the age of "do it yourself". Toys were made out of sticks and tin cans. Mum sewing clothes, curtains and furnishing covers, Dad the oyster farmer, making boats and countless other practical objects".

After graduating from The National Art School Newcastle, Stephen travelled extensively through Asia and was astounded by the “living art” he encountered there, in the painting and carving that decorated houses and boats, to the most banal of objects. He returned to Australia inspired to build a simple, alternative energy houses in the bush, with his bare hands and one chainsaw. Setting up a kiln and pottery and teaching ceramics at the technical college in Grafton, he managed to scrape together the finances he needed to finally make the move to the big smoke. To support himself whilst continuing to work on his art, Stephen became involved in the film industry. All the years he spent building his own dwellings, while drawing and painting, made him a natural as an art director. He began to work in America as a production designer and was soon directing projects both in Australia and overseas. The death of his father Marr describes as, "a wake up call, a reminder of how short a life is, I found that I had a very personal story to tell and I began to paint this story using all the skills I had been accumulating through my life".

In 2000, the first major exhibition of Stephen Marr's work was held at Newport Artworks, Newport Beach, Sydney, where he created a fictional setting with a series of lyrical images and objects. The show was a sell out. His story telling style resonated with other peoples' life stories and a steady following grew on the Northern Beaches. In 2001, he exhibited at Raglan Gallery in Manly coinciding with the Manly Arts Festival. The images in this show deeply reflected Marr's desire to express time and memory in a narrative style. In December 2004 his Manly Regional Gallery show entitled, Oceanic Phantascope, drew crowds of people visiting Sydney on holidays from countries all over the world, comments in the visitors book expressing, "the work had the effect of eliciting memories of long forgotten familiar places and events". In 2006, Stephen's solo show, "Listening to Cicadas", was shown at Wallspace Gallery. The work in this exhibition built on the themes that have driven Stephen Marr's artistic expression. Joyously infused with light and colour, Marr's paintings tempt us to smell the sea, touch the crumbling walls and listen to the rising chorus of cicadas. Building on this narrative, Stephen began incorporating individually carved and painted wooden frames that serve as both the canvas and frame for many of his paintings. These stages were integral to the work and added a sculptural element to the images. 2007 saw Stephen head down producing new work for solo exhibition “On a Wing and a Prayer” at Wallspace with one piece becoming a finalist in the Willoughby Art Prize. He also provided work for Lotus Outreach a charity for at risk children. The concept of merging painting and sculpture and the inherent metaphors of braking barriers both physically and psychologically, and intersections in time and space, become the foundation for his work. This concept was partially developed in his entry for Sculpture By The Sea 2008. He received the Tom Nelson Subsidy for work addressing social justice and exhibited in the accompanying Sculpture Inside exhibitions. In 2008, 2009 & 2010 Stephen expanded his involvement in sculptural techniques with work being shown at Sculpture by the Sea in Bondi and Cottlesloe. His large figure “The Drifter” was purchased by the Melville City Council, Western Australia. His figurative sculpture “the Crossroad” was selected for 2010 SXS Bondi.

STEPHEN MARR   CURRICULUM VITAE. 2010

1952                Born Maclean NSW Australia

1957-70           Yamba Primary School Maclean High School

1971-75            National Art School Dip. Art Ed. Newcastle NSW

1977                Designed and hand built 1st house Tullimorgan NSW

1978                Ceramics teacher Grafton Technical College NSW

1979                Designed and hand built 2nd house Palmer's Island NSW

1980                Established Pottery at Palmer's Island

1981                Painting Drawing Pottery

1982                Moved to Sydney / Drawing and pastel drawing Exhibition

                      Oxford Gallery, Paddington

1983                Assistant Art Director. Winners Children Series for

                      television

1984                General art production for film and television

1985                Art Director. Return to Eden television series

1986                Production Designer. Young Einstein

1987                Freelance Production Designer

1988-91            Established Machine Age Art P/L facility for Film Design and Art Production design in USA & Australia

1991               .Directing TV Commercials in USA

1992-00            Directing and design TV commercials Internationally. Design and built 3rd house Newport Beach Sydney. Solo Exhibition Painting and Sculpture Artworks Gallery Newport

2000-03            TV Direction Internationally

                      Painting –Commissions and gallery supply

2003                Solo Exhibition Paintings Raglan Gallery Manly

                      Affordable Art Show Sydney

2004                Solo Exhibition Manly Regional Gallery “Oceanic Phantascope”

2005                Supplying galleries and private sales

2006                Solo Exhibition “Listening to Cicadas” Wallspace Gallery

2007                Solo Exhibition “On a Wing and a Prayer” Wallspace Gallery

                      Paintings for Lotus Outreach Foundation Fundraising

                      Finalist Willoughby Art Prize “The Case Of The Homesick

                      Cocky”

                      Affordable Art Show Sydney

                      Workshops with Northcotte Arts Project

2008                “We Love 3D” Display. The Studio. Sydney Opera House

                      Sculpture By The Sea Bondi 

                      Sculpture Inside (SxS) Bondi

2009                Sculpture By The Sea Cottesloe WA  Sculpture Inside . Cottesloe WA                                    

2010                Group exhibition “In Paradise” Manly Regional Gallery

                      Sculpture Inside (SxS) Cottesloe WA