MARLEE HAYES

Marlee Hayes is an abstract artist whose work examines emotion, movement, and the subtle complexity of human experience. Her background includes studies at Columbia College Chicago, work in film production in both Chicago and Minneapolis, and graduate studies at the University of South Dakota—each shaping her approach to composition, layering, and narrative.

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Largely self-taught as a visual artist, Marlee has been an artist-in-residence at the Sanford Cancer Center since 2016, where art serves as both expression and connection within a healing environment. She is also an endorsed artist on the South Dakota Arts Council roster, traveling throughout the state to teach workshops that emphasize accessibility, inclusion, and creative confidence.

 

Based in South Dakota, Marlee maintains a studio in Sioux Falls while splitting time with her family between Sioux Falls and Pierre, where her husband farms. As a mother of two young children, her practice is shaped by rhythm, interruption, and presence—elements that surface organically in her abstract work