The Finish Line

The “Finish Line” is an exceptional display of Marsha Glazière’s talent as both a sculptor and painter. It honors women everywhere who have risen above any form of civil, social, or cultural oppression. It celebrates the determination, beauty, and courage of women who have succeeded in achieving personal victory. In particular, the artwork celebrates equal opportunities for women to achieve personal and professional dreams with freedom of choice and authentic expression of self, including sexuality, without repercussion.

True to most of Glazière’s paintings created in three-dimensional relief, the featured figure uses complex layers of mixed media to entice the senses into a visual and tactile journey of depth, dimension, and discovery. “The Finish Line” naturally evolved from years of the artist drawing and painting the figure. One day it became evident that the importance of the message Glazière desired to convey required the figure to emerge from the canvas. The artist used recycled plastic containers, chicken wire, and pieces of wood for the sturdy construction of the armatures, and acrylic paint and a palm frond to punctuate with personality. She draped the armatures with moistened medical plaster bandages to help her sculpt them into shapes more human in nature. Glazière credits her ability to portray human traits with realistic motion to her advanced medical training in human anatomy and her sixteen years of performing modern dance. The artwork’s most defining features are the figure’s arm and leg that powerfully project beyond the symbolic confinement of the frame extending an invitation for the viewer to celebrate with her in triumphs in equality of any kind.

Glazière believes our planet will experience exponential advancements in every aspect of life when the conscious and unconscious mind of humankind evolves to a place completely absent of gender, race, and sexual preference. Like an ocean prevented for millenniums from flowing by the impenetrable stronghold of a dam, the removal of these ancient barriers will enable the powerful waters to finally breach manmade confines and freely flow to their intended destination.