“My art is a way for me to release my feelings from within, that frees my spirit to express words that can’t be spoken.”
Marilynn Dean Cleveland is the currently featured artist at Springer Cultural Center.
My Soul Doesn’t Cast a Shadow tells Cleveland’s stories through color, lines, tones, and textures.
Cleveland is a unique artist. Learn about who she is as an artist and person below.
- Cleveland’s art represents her personal history and presence. Resisting formal boundaries, she paints with a free spirit and her “true” self.
- Cleveland is a local Urbana resident who was born in Louisiana and raised in Wisconsin. She moved to Rantoul in 1966 after a tour of duty in Germany.
- Her twin sister passed shortly after birth, and Cleveland often says, “God has blessed me with my sister’s talents along with my own.”
- Creating without bounds, she has painted 1759 pieces of art on a variety of mediums: canvas, wood, glass, plastic, rocks, bottle caps, and popcorn included.
- Cleveland also enjoys writing short stories, poems, prose, and plays. She has begun her fourth book, The International Spirit.
- Hobbies including fishing, bowling, making special cards, sewing, and cooking keep Cleveland busy outside of her art. Her savory gumbo and Cajun dishes are highly requested.
