Remembering Marion Archer

Some people make a big splash. Others quietly, without fanfare, spread their goodwill among friends. Still others are golden champions who don’t need recognition for their good deeds. Artist Marion Archer was a combination of all these. We first met when Marion when she was doing work as a volunteer artist at the Mount Vernon Boys and Girls Club. 

Her multiple skills in dance theater and visual arts landed in the laps of children who needed her enthusiasm and love of life. For those kids, she taught them how to use their bodies artistically, how to make their presence felt theatrically and how to be part of a team. Marion‘s way of working was to understand every child in the class and how each one could be part of a larger moment. Her skill in involving every child in artistic pursuit was always amazing to me.

The fact of the matter was that Marion was not paid for her work at the time, but came back to it every week to bring smiles to those faces. When we met, the first thing I revealed to Marion was that artists should be paid, and that ArtsWestchester had a program to paid artists to teach kids, seniors, those with special needs, and others the joy of art. She joined our artist roster and got paid for her work at the Mount Vernon Boys and Girls Club, and that spread to other places. Her work was so life-affirming that ArtsWestchester honored her in 2017. All the while as Marion was spreading her good works throughout the county, she was fighting her own battle with cancer that she ultimately lost.