Marge Dodge Bio

Born Marguerite Gilbertson in 1918 in Stoughton, Wisconsin, Marge won a scholarship after high school to attend Layton School of Art in Milwaukee. There she formed a four-artist partnership called the “Easelists” that traveled around the Midwest doing portraits. After marrying Rodney Dodge in 1942, she moved with him to the Deep South, studying art at the Atlanta Art Institute and raising two children in Savannah.

In 1955, she brought her talent to Missoula where she resumed her academic career at the University of Montana, completing a BFA, a BA and MA in Art.

Marge was an integral part of the art community In Missoula. She received a professional Teaching Certificate and held a supervisory position for District One Schools. She also launched and taught an art program for the Senior Citizens Center, held private classes for children and adults, and taught in the Missoula County high schools.

In addition to the local art community, Marge was active across the state. She was a founding member of the Montana Institute of the Arts and formed a fine arts group that encouraged and supported local artists. Her paintings have been selected to travel throughout the state as selections from the annual Festivals of the Arts. She had one-person invitational shows in Atlanta, the Hockaday Art Center in Kalispell, and Reeder’s Alley in Helena. Her paintings are in private and public collections in the Middle East and the United States.

Marge won several awards for her work and her work on historically significant places was acquired by the DeKalb County Library Art Gallery in Greater Atlanta. Several of her illustrations can be found in Missoula Valley History.

More importantly, Marge was a trailblazer for female artists in Montana, especially modernist artists at a time when few women did such things. Though not as widely known as some of her peers like Frances Senska and Jessie Wilbur, they were her contemporaries and friends, and she was integral to the supportive community that raised those two and others to national and international prominence.

Another trait that makes Marge stand out is the absolute variety and breadth of her work. She literally did every medium possible in the world of visual arts, drawing, painting, watercolor, oil, pottery, encaustic, collage, landscapes and protraits and dark abstracts with deep personal and psychological signifance to lite and whimsy cut outs and silhouettes. This diversity is met with technical mastery and sophistication of portraits that resemble photgraphs.

Over 20 years since her passing, we’re glad to be able to finally bring her work to the internet. Contact us about purchasing any of her works!