Marissa’s practice centres on ecology, plants, and our complex relationships with them. Inspired by her upbringing, travels, and residencies she has attended in remote wild locations, she seeks a collective sense of belonging and connection through the stories and colours of plants in the UK.

To explore this, she forages for colour by creating dyes and pigments from plants and minerals she collects during walks. This ancient, slow craft process allows her to study plant species (particularly trees and "weeds") and discover how their stories intertwine with our cosmologies and evolution. This method of making is a science, as factors such as seasons, location, soil health, and water properties influence the resulting hues. Over time, she has developed her own collection of recipes, samples, and objects that unveil the stories and metaphors encapsulated within the plant landscape of the UK.

Marissa is a cross-disciplinary artist who explores various mediums, including textiles, painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and sound. Looking at the intricate connections between humans and the natural world, she draws inspiration from semiotics, language, myth, folklore, spirituality, and science. Marissa primarily works with trees because they are great teachers who reflect our identity and trace our changing relationship with nature. Foraging is a sensual exploration of our surroundings, encompassing sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, which she brings into her work. Amidst the exploration of profound ideas, Marissa also embraces humour and the weird, incorporating mask-making and alternative forms of storytelling through collaboration and performance.

Central to her practice is a deep concern for sustainability the origins of life, the materials we use, and their histories. Working in slow craft allows Marissa to foster an intimate connection with plants, materials, and the non-human world, embodying a way of life and artistic expression. By forging a connection with her local ecology—past, present, and future— she strives to establish a sense of kinship, wonder, and awe.

*

Marissa Stoffer (b. Netherlands) is a London-based cross-disciplinary artist and educator. She graduated from Edinburgh University with an MA in Fine Art (History of Art and Painting) in 2014, receiving the Edinburgh University's Collection Purchase Prize and Graduate Studio Award.

She has exhibited in the UK, Ireland, and Peru, and is a recipient of 'The Visual Art and Craft Makers Award' (2018), attending funded residencies in England (2023) Scotland (2021), Peru (2018), and Finland (2017) supported by Creative Scotland, Edinburgh Council, Marchmont House, and Hope Scott Trust. She was the recipient of the Colart Art Materials Award (2020) and received the Burren College of Art Residency through the RCA (2023).

Marissa has been invited to speak at RCA about sustainability within art practice in 2020, 2022, and 2023. She teaches her workshops ‘Foraging for Colour’ independently and with public and educational organisations including Great Place Scotland, and Tweed River Culture. These workshops connect communities to local ecology by exploring entangled narratives of plants and minerals through the craft of colour making and storytelling.

S E L E C T E D   E X H I B I T I O N S

2023 - Even Poets Were Jealous of These, Vermillon Partners, London
2023 - Brink, 2030 Collective, RCA Hanger, London
2023 - Beneath The Burren, Burren College of Art, Ireland
2023 - The Landscape of One’s Own, Vermillon Partners, London
2021- 123rd Annual Exhibition, Society of Scottish Artists, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2021- Lost Wax – For Lost Species, Barbican, London
2021- Re-Connect, Society of Scottish Artists, Scotland
2021- In Limbo¸ Rhubaba, Edinburgh
2020 – Annual Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2020 - Snapshot¸ Hockney Gallery: Royal College of Art, London
2020 - WIP Show, Royal College of Art, London
2019 - Open Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2019 - Utopias, SYN Festival, Summerhall, Edinburgh
2018 - Beyond Uncanny, San Roque Cambuza, Peru
2018 - Artists At Work, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
2018 - All Done on Purpose, The Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, Edinburgh
2018 - Odysseys, Syn Festival, Summerhall, Edinburgh
2017 - Open Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2017 - Metamorphosis-Transformation, SYN Festival Edinburgh, Out of the Blue, Edinburgh
2017 - Switch, Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh
2017-  Silence Awareness Existence, Arteles, Finland
2016 - Open Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2015 - New Scottish Artists, Fleming Collection, London
2015 - The Royal Scottish Academy New Contemporaries, Edinburgh

P E R F O R M A N C E

2023 - London Plane in collaboration with Original Copy at Triffids an exhibition by Annie Trevorah, Pump House Battersea Park, London.
2023 - London Plane in collaboration with Original Copy at Ghost Notes, and exhibition by Carolina Aguirre and Christopher Stead, Fold Gallery, London Gallery Weekend.
2023 - London Plane, at RCA studios, in collaboration with Original Copy, London

A W A R D S

COLART, Materials Bursary Award, 2020
ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY, Latmier Award, 2019
HOPE SCOTT TRUST, Bursary Award, 2018
SCOTTISH COUNCIL & CREATIVE SCOTLAND, Edinburgh Visual Artist and Craft Makers Award, 2018
CREATIVE SCOTLAND, Open Project Funding, 2017
ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY, Stuart Prize, 2015
ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY, New Contemporaries Exhibition Award, 2015
NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND, Short Listed for the John Watson Prize, 2014
EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART, Art Collections Purchase Prize, 2014
EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART, Graduate Studio Bursary prize, 2014
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY, Shortlisted for Grey Friars Kirk Commission, 2013

R E S I D E N C I E S

HUMAN GEOGRAPHIES– Vermillon Partners, Quincheng Mountain, China, 2024
HINTERLANDS MINI-RESIDENCY – Canal River Trust, Tottenham Marshes, 2023
ART, NATURE, HUMANITY – Marchmont House, 2021
NUMBERSHOP - Caravana Grande, Micro residency, Scotland, Edinburgh Fringe, 2018
SACHAQA CENTRO DE ART – Ecology: Pigments, Paper, and Ceramics, Peru, 2018. (Supported by Edinburgh Visual Artist and Craft Makers Award & Hope Scott Trust)
NVERERNE - Skill Share, Scotland, 2017
ARTELES - Silence Awareness Existence, Finland, 2017. (Supported by Creative Scotland)

T A L K S   &   P R E S E N T A T I O N S

TURPS BANANA: Artist Talk, London, 2023.
BURREN COLLEGE OF ART: Artist Talk, Ireland, 2023.
ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART: Ecology of Painting series, London, 2022. (Invited to talk about ecology within practice)
ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY: 123rd Annual Exhibition, Artist talk on Marchmont House residency. Society of Scottish Artists, Royal Scottish Academy, 2021
ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART: Ecology of Painting series, London, 2020. (Invited to talk about residencies and ecology within practice)
ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART:  Critical Historical Studies Presentation, London, 2020. (Selected to present master’s thesis: ‘One Touch of Nature Makes the Whole World Kin’ and practice to incoming RCA students & academics. 900 persons)
ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY: PechaKucha, Artist talk, 2019.
SUMMERHALL: Odysseys, Artist talk, Scotland, 2018.

P U B L I C A T I O N S

HERBOLOGY NEWS, December 2020
EXPOSE ART MAGAZINE, December 2017

W O R K S H O P S

RIVER LEA: FORAGING FOR COLOUR. Guided storytelling walk, Tottenham Marshes, Canal River Trust, August 2023
BOTANICAL INK: FORAGING FOR COLOUR. Three-day class, Summer School, Leith School of Art, July 2022
FORAGING FOR COLOUR: INKS. Guided walk and botanical ink workshop. Artist in the Meadow¸ Connecting Threads: Tweed River Culture, October 2021
BOTANICAL INK: FORAGING FOR COLOUR. Full-day workshop, Leith School of Art, October 2021
FORAGING FOR COLOUR:  Plants, Paints, and Natural Pigments. A guided walk exploring native plants along the canal. Canal Encounters, Falkirk Community Trust: Great Place Scotland, August 2021
 FORAGING FOR COLOUR: Falkirk Canal, guided walk, and Foraged Botanical Ink Workshop. Falkirk Community Trust: Great Place Scotland, July 2021
FORAGING FOR COLOUR: Online artist talk and guided colour extraction workshop. Falkirk Community Trust: Great Place Scotland, May 2021