“I love wood! For over 40 years my obsession for the medium has not wan
ed. I think of trees as our ancestors and family. They are our partners on this planet, and without trees there would be no shelter, heat, books, habitat or air to breathe for our entire ecosystem. Each tree and the wood therein are unique, like humanity no two are alike. The sensual nature of the materials is physically addictive and calming at the same time. Whether I carve a single piece in my grasses series, laminate the wood for sculpture and furniture, carve and fabricate from logs or combine with neon, I believe, like the ancient carvers, that I enable the spirit of the wood to be released. ”
Margery E. Goldberg has been a major player in the Washington arts community for more than three decades as an entrepreneur and gallery owner, curator, activist, arts commissioner, guest lecturer, and wood and furniture sculptor.
As an artist, Goldberg has created more than 300 pieces of sculptured furniture and neon, now in private and public collections throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. In addition to showing her work in her own gallery, she has been featured in ten one-women shows in the Mid-Atlantic region and more than 40 group shows in 13 U.S. cities. While Goldberg continues to make art today, she spends much of her time running Zenith Gallery and focusing on her activism.
As a gallery owner and entrepreneur, Goldberg founded Zenith Gallery (1978), long one of Washington’s foremost galleries, recognized for its striking mix of high-quality contemporary artworks in all media that stimulate and engage. Originally located on Rhode Island Avenue NW near 14th Street, Zenith began in a 50,000 square-foot community of 50 studios, also established by Goldberg at age 27, to serve as an affordable haven for artists to work, live, show their work and support each other. Studio Theatre and the Dance Exchange were part of that complex. In 1986, the gallery moved to 413 Seventh Street NW in Penn Quarter, and remained there until April 2009. Today, Zenith continues to show artwork via a small intimate gallery by appointment and its website, while also providing high-quality acquisition, consulting and commissioning services to residential and corporate clients.
Education
Goldberg received a BA in Fine Arts from George Washington University in 1972 and became a guest lecturer there in 1975. Previously, she attended the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York (summer school) taking classes in woodworking, sculpture and silver-smithing, 1969-1971. She guest lectured at Rochester Institute in 1974. Through childhood into young adulthood, from elementary through high school years, Goldberg attended art classes at Rochester Memorial Art Gallery.
Email the Artist: margery@zenithgallery.com
Artist's Website: http://www.zenithgallery.com/artists/Goldberg_Margery/index.htm
