Marcia Patterson

Duality – strength and weakness

Marcia Patterson is a visual artist based in Bedford, born in Forest Gate, East London. Originally trained in 3D Design with a focus on furniture, she spent a decade working in community care and social work before returning to art through pottery courses in Adult Education and figurative painting training at Central St Martins, where she discovered her passion for figure painting. She is a full-time carer and part-time tutor at Bedford Arts and Crafts Centre. Her practice encompasses oil painting and ceramics, rooted in figurative self-portraiture that draws on personal experience, identity and the female form, exploring dramatic angles, facial expressions and physical gestures that tell a story without words. She was shortlisted for the Visual Artists Association Best New and Emerging Artist Category in 2025 and won the Susan Angoy Prize — recognising artists of African and Caribbean heritage — at the 2025 Women in Art Prize.