When I studied art in college, I was drawn to the minimalist art of the mid 60's and early 70's. I fell in love with pattern, placement, subtle color shifts and proportion. My work was non-objective through my early years in Washington, DC when I was making silkscreen prints, drawings and then sculptures.

However, I was constantly looking at architecture - buildings, doors & windows, fences, even beach furniture, lattices and old-fashioned amusement park architecture. In the mid 70's I started making art about the things I loved to look at.

I'm fascinated with utilitarian buildings - warehouses, factories, Quonset huts, and all kinds of farm buildings - buildings for working in and for holding materials, animals and goods. For me these buildings embody hopefulness, possibilities, history and sometimes even mystery. I appreciate the elegant design elements, as well as the poetic and emotional associations, of simple vernacular architecture. I like that these utilitarian buildings are made with everyday materials that get wonderfully worn by time and weather, and are sometimes patched like a quilt. My sculptures are constructed and collaged with wood (painted, oiled or stained), rubber, glass and sheet metal - the same materials that make up the buildings that inspire me. I pick and choose appropriate materials - both new and used - and paint, stain, patina and work the surfaces. Some sculptures are based on specific buildings while others come from playing with forms or combinations of materials. Pieces range from fairly representational to abstract. Most are wall mounted while others are free standing.

I sketch and photograph during travels and when close to home. Images from photographs (some given to me by friends) and films also play a part in my art. I start by remembering a place and then abstracting the essentials. I believe these types of buildings conjure universal as well as personal associations. I aim to capture these associations in my work.

Born, raised and educated in the Bronx, New York, I earned a BFA from Hunter College, City University of New York in 1970. I then spent a year of graduate studies at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia PA. In 1971 I moved to Washington, DC where I started working and showing with a loosely organized group of women artists. In 1976 I began teaching at the Corcoran College of Art + Design. In addition to teaching, I served as Chairman of the Foundation Department from 1986 to 1989 and 1996 to 2003. I was awarded full professorship in 1992. After taking a leave of absence for the 2003-2004 academic year, I resigned in order to work full time in my studio.

Since 1977 my studio has been in a post civil war brick building in Washington DC, a town house most likely originally designed to be a boarding house.

• 2010 BELMAR, PETKE + RINGWALD, Gallery Neptune, Bethesda MD, May 14 - June 11
• 2008 NEW, Gallery Neptune, Bethesda MD, March 5-April 5
• 2006 The Real (Art) World, 5 artists/5 curators/one museum, The American University Museum at the Katzen Center, DC, curated by Nicole Ferdinando
• 2003-2004 Holding Places, Atrium Gallery, McLean Project for the Arts (Dec. 11-17, Jan. 6-17)
• 2003 Marie Ringwald, Troyer Gallery, DC (April)
• 2002 Art from Architecture, Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh, NC (July 28-Sept. 10)
• 2002 Constructions, Troyer Gallery (Feb. 22-March 30)
• 2001 Silver (25 year retrospective), Monterey, (a commercial space in Georgetown) DC (May-October 2001) curated by Annie Adjchavanich
• 1995 Mixed Media Wall Reliefs, Mahler Gallery, DC
• 1994 The Space Between Things, Newman Gallery, DC
• 1993 Marie Ringwald, Recent Paintings and Sculptures, Arnold & Porter Law Offices, DC
• 1991 Small Paintings in a Small gallery in a Small Town, Center Street Gallery, VA
• 1986 Places, Foundry Gallery
• 1986 Paintings and Sculptures by Marie Ringwald, George Meany Center, MD
• 1985 Installation, Tyler Gallery, Northern VA Community College
• 1984 How I Spent my Summer Vacation, Gatehouse Gallery, Mount Vernon College, DC
• 1983 Paintings and Sculptures by Marie Ringwald, Velar Gallery, GSIA, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
• 1982 Recent Paintings and Sculptures, Foundry Gallery
• 1980 Reminders, Foundry Gallery
• 1979 Nighttime Windows/Daytime Windows, Gallery 10
• 1977 Works on Paper and Wall Pieces, Gallery 10
• 1977 Scenes from New Jersey, Foundry Gallery, DC

• MATERIAL WORLD, artdc Gallery, Hyattsville, MD, March 12 - April 3, 2011, Stephen Boocks curator
• WASHINGTON PROJECT for the ARTS 29TH ART AUCTION, Annie Adjchavanich curator, 700 Sixth St. NW, DC, Feb. - March 2011; also the 28th ART AUCTION, Katzen Art Center, DC, 2009, Georgia Deal curator; the 26th Annual WPA/C Art Auction Gala, (table piece) Corcoran Galley of Art, DC, 2007; the 25TH ART AUCTION, Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2006, Sally Troyer curator
• APRIL, Gallery Neptune, Bethesda MD, April 10 - May 2, 2009
• STRUCTURALLY SOUND, The Galleries, Cabarrus Arts Council, Concord, NC, January 20 to March 26, 2009
• FOR REAL, Zenith Gallery, DC, December 5, 2008 to January 4, 2009
• HOME PLATES, Washington DCJCC's Anne Loeb Bronfman Gallery, November 6 to December 13, 2008
• MOVE IT, Gallery Neptune, Bethesda MD, June 11 to July 12, 2008
• JOHN BLEE & MARIE RINGWALD, R Street Gallery, DC, Oct. 10-Nov. 3, 2007
• ART AND ARCHITECTURE, Gallery Neptune, Bethesda, MD, Aug. 23-Sept. 8, 2007
• ZENITH IN III-D, The Gallery at 1111 Pennsylvania Ave., DC, Dec. 2-, 2006-March 10, 2007
• ART NIGHT 2006, Hickok Cole Architects, DC, Oct. 26-Nov. 9, 2006
• THE SOUTHERN LANDSCAPE, Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh NC, Aug. 25-Sept. 30, 2006
• MICRO-MONUMENTAL, Flashpoint Gallery, DC, April 6-May 27, 2006; Xavier University Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, June 20-July 22, 2006, work selected by Kristen Hileman, Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
• 17th NATIONAL DRAWING & PRINT COMPETITIVE EXHIBITION, Gormley Gallery, College of Notre Dame of MD, Baltimore, March 20-April 28, 2006, Amy Eva Raehse curator, Director Goya Contemporary, Baltimore
• DIMENSIONS, Women Sculptors of Washington: Zenith Gallery, DC, Jan. 13-February 19, 2006, Anne Surak curator
• QUONSET: METAL LIVING IN A MODERN AGE, Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska, Oct. 16 through December 2005
• SEVEN (Seven separate shows under one roof), Warehouse Theatre, DC, June 30-Sept. 4, 2005, presented by the Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran F. Lenox Campello curator
• FACES OF THE FALLEN, Women In Military Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, VA, 2005

COLLECTIONS

• Wilson Building Art Collection, WDC
• National Association of Home Builders
• Crowell & Moring Law Firm
• Greater Baltimore AHC Inc. MD
• Friendship Terrace Retirement Community, WDC
• New Endeavors by Women, WDC
• Sarah's Circle, WDC
• Long & Foster Realtors
• Horning Brothers, Inc.
• Fannie Mae
• Dorsey & Whitney, LLP
• Arnold & Porter Law Firm
• Atlantic Food Services, Inc.
• The Washington Post
• Montgomery County Contemporary Art Collection
• National Institutes of Health
• Private collections in the Netherlands, Peru, Canada and throughout the US

ART IN EMBASSIES PROGRAM

• Sculpture, Stable, Middleburg, Virginia, U.S. Ambassadorial Residence in Caracas, Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, Ambassador, 2003 - 2005
• Sculpture, Four From Galveston, Warehouse # 3, to the U.S. Ambassadorial Residence in Berlin, Germany, Dan Coats, Ambassador, 2002-2005 (catalog)
• Sculpture, Small White Barn with a Pink And Grey Roof, the Ambassadorial Residence in Brasilia, Brazil, Anthony Harrington, Ambassador, 1999 - 2001
• Sculpture, Silver Warehouse on the Eastern Shore, the Ambassadorial Residence in Bucharest, Romania, James C. Rosapepe, Ambassador, 1998-2001 (catalog)

PERSONAL, EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT

• Education: B.F.A. Hunter College, City University of NY, 1970, Departmental Honors
• Graduate studies, Tyler School of Art, Temple U., Philadelphia, PA, 1970-71
• Employment:
  • Corcoran College of Art + Design, Washington, DC, from1976 through August 2004;
  • Chairman Foundation Department 1986-1989 and 1996-2003; Sabbatical 1989-1990;
  • Full Professor, 1992
• Residence: New York City 1947 to 1971 Washington, DC since September 1971