Marla Goodman was raised in a rural area near Bozeman and received her BFA in painting from MSU. Drawing on the tension between Montana’s idyllic bubble and the shadow of human destructiveness, Goodman’s paintings often juxtapose nostalgia with angst. She pokes at the quirks of human experience through vintage snapshots, pop culture references and existentially troubled, thrift-store purchased oddities. Compelled to look for beauty in without sacrificing truth, she often refers to images from apparently simpler times. In response to the Women’s March of January 2017, she became interested in the idea of beauty and traditional handwork as forms of quiet but unyielding protest. Her vibrant pink renderings of female role models in moments of gentle friendship are a statement against sexism, racism, faithism, greed, lies and willful stupidity. At her embroidery workshop, Apocalypta’s Sewing Circle, she stitches messages of peace.