Lehman: Hi! Good morning!

Marris: Morning!

Lehman: Would it be ok if we asked you some questions?

Marris: Sure.

Lehman: Who is your style icon?

Marris: Hmmmm, that’s a tough one. Uh Senora Munos is always looking pretty snappy over in the Spanish department. But, um, if you’re talking about actual people, there was a French teacher here,who retired named, uh, ummmmm, Madame Strareno. You probably don’t remember her since it was a while ago but her daughter was a guest judge on “Project Runway” and she does a bunch of stuff in New York, and she promotes a lot of body positivity, so I follow her.

Lehman: What is your favorite art technique?

Marris:I kind of feel like I fall in love with whatever I’m teaching at the moment. Ummm, the first thing, I guess this is popping into my head right now, but sometimes, after you do water color or charcoal painting, and you pull down the tape you used to hold it down, it makes this really clean line, and it’s super satisfying.

Lehman: What is a class you could never teach?

Marris: Maybe, gym. I feel like that really high energy, not that I don’t, I mean, I just don’t know if I can handle that. Good job Botts!

Lehman: What is your favorite thing about teaching art?

Marris: Ummm, I would say, probably the students, ummm, I think that relationships you make with students is pretty great. And even when they graduate you can follow them on social media and see where they’re at. That’s pretty awesome.

Lehman:How did last year affect your teaching style for this year?

Marris:I would say if I’d learned anything from last year, it’s that, sometimes you just have to prioritize what’s most important, and just keep things simple. I think that’s good all the time, not just in a pandemic here.

Lehman: Yeah. What medium are you best with and what medium is your favorite?

Marris: Ummm, I-I would say I really enjoyed print making a lot. Anything that’s two dimensional, or mixed media. Although I do enjoy the potter’s wheel, its a lot of fun.

Lehman: Sweet, salty, or savory?

Marris: I would say this time of year sweet. Christmas cookies!

Lehman: Do you have a secret talent?

Marris: I’m a pretty decent water skier, and I’m learning to speak Cherokee, but it’s not really a talent yet, it’s more like a process. I hope it’ll be a talent in a few years.

Lehman: How would you define beauty?

Marris: Do you mean like “people” beauty? Or just like the concept of beauty?

Lehman: Either one.

Marris: For people, I would say, when you take a figure drawing class, where you study people, you learn to appreciate, any subtle, just little things, and you start realize that everybody is beautiful. I know that, that sound kind of cliche, but it’s true, you just really start to recognize a certain curve. Faces that aren’t classically considered “beautiful”, you just really see the beauty in, which I think is kind of a gift, like that artists sort of receive, when they learn ot draw. I think in general, otherwise, it’s sort of just personality kind of shines through.

Lehman: Yeah. What is the best compliment you have ever received?

Marris: This is random, but it was from a dog. One time in college, the assignment was to sculpt this apple, and I sculpted it, and I painted it and I took it home, and I had it sitting on this shelf. All of a sudden we heard this mad barking from the basement, and we went downstairs and the dog though it was real, and he tried to eat it. So, I was very flattered that he thought my sulpture looked so real and tried to eat it.

Lehman: Alright, thank you so much!

Marris:Yeah. Thank you!