Marion Grebow

Picture of Marion Grebow

Born in 1953 in Lakewood, NJ, and raised in Stamford, Ct, Marion Grebow knew by age five that she would be an artist. Her formal art education began in the Art Student's League of New York. By her senior year of high school she had received special permission to commute to the League, having exhausted resources in her own hometown. From the League she applied and was admitted to the highly competitive Cooper Union of Fine Arts. After majoring in sculpture and drawing, Grebow graduated in 1975 and received the Alumni Sculpture Award for exceptional achievement.

Between 1975 and 1984, she continued to produce and exhibit sculpture. To supplement her income she began designing and manufacturing custom porcelain dinnerware and Judaica. 1986 found the businesswoman married and with a young son, but with a demand for her product that precluded time for parenting and her own sculpture. Grebow closed her factory and began accepting commissions to sculpt and paint custom tiles murals for fine homes in Fairfield County, CT, Westchester County, NY and New York City. Her work caught the attention of philanthropist Erica Jesselson, who was searching for a way to showcase donors at the 92nd Street YMHA. The resulting success inspired further projects at nearby Temple Emanu-El, a donor wall which continues as an annual fundraiser and to date has netted over 2 million dollars.

More varied commissions soon followed, portraying the histories of communities and citizens for libraries, indigenous natural life for nature centers, and tile montages of memories and experiences associated with much loved community centers. Her commissions are far reaching, having recently been asked to create a project for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. The one common denominator between all of these projects is the creation of a lasting work of art and a tribute to the community that supports the organization.

Today, Grebow maintains her studio in a West Redding, CT, farmhouse; there she lives with her husband, Gustav, and their two sons, Sam and Harald.

--Excerpts from "River of Names" by Dorothy Curran, published Feb. 1, 2001, by the Westport Public Library.