Marlana Stoddard-Hayes is an Iowa native artist who obtained her BFA from Colorado State University and her MFA from Wichita State University. Through her extensive travel across Europe, she has been able to explore different native plants and incorporate them into her work. "From her earliest beginnings, Marlana Stoddard-Hayes has been inspired to use elements of nature in her painting practice, but now does so within a contemporary context. Over the years, she has developed a cross-fielding system of information input, using elements in her garden as living subjects, along with extensive collections of artifacts and a personal reference library. Her work explores plant and biological forms that are an outgrowth of the inspiration these sources provide."
