Marie Roberts

Sunday, October 19, 2014
11:00am

Marie Roberts’s family has been involved at Coney Island since the beginning of the 20th Century. Her grandfather was acting battalion chief of the Coney Island District and her family worked at the Dreamland Circus Sideshow in the 1920’s, including her father and her Uncle Lester, who was a “talker” for the sideshow.

In 1997, Marie began working with Coney Island USA, the non-profit Arts Center, and fell in love with the tradition of large format sideshow banners. Her banners now adorn Coney Island USA’s landmark facade, merging her academic life with her family history.

Marie Roberts is a native New Yorker and professor of Art at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She obtained her BA from Brooklyn College and her MFA from Queens College. Marie is an artist-in-residence at Coney Island USA where she is the show painter for the world famous Coney Island Circus Sideshow and teaches banner painting at their Sideshow School.

The cHURCH OF MONIKA is a non-religious monthly series where invited speakers share and discuss their projects and experiences.