Thriving on a Riff: A Life in Art and Music

“Thriving on a Riff: A Life in Art and Music” 

New Book Documents the Artistic Life of Painter Marsha Hammel

The Gallery at Flat Rock is excited to announce the release of the book “Thriving on a Riff: A Life in Art and Music” which details the creative life of gallery artist Marsha Hammel, an internationally collected painter who lives in Hendersonville.

“Imagine! A book about my life and art and I’m not even dead yet!” says Hammel, who has painted in oils in a modernist, representational style for over 50 years. Hammel’s longtime agent in London, Rosenstiel’s Fine Art, commissioned the book in 2020 to detail her life and the evolution of her art over the decades. “Thriving on a Riff” is filled with Hammel’s written observations about art and archival photos of her at work, in addition to pages from her sketchbooks over the years. “Thriving on a Riff” is available in the U.S. exclusively through The Gallery at Flat Rock.

Hammel calls the biography of her life’s work “a lively account that stretches from the 1950s to the present illustrated with ‘vintage’ photos, dozens of large color plates, sprinkled with essays and stories.” She adds, “Looking over all this material surprised me. I thought, ‘Did I do all that?!’”

A longtime painter of musicians, Hammel chose for the book’s title the word “riff”—a repeated rhythmic or melodic phrase, that forms an accompaniment to musical composition or improvisation. While not a musician herself, Hammel has always found inspiration for her artistic approach and painterly composition through listening to musicians. “The creative process for writing and performing music is very much the same as painting,” she says. “Atmosphere and tone are the intangible goal of the creator, whether for sound or a visual piece. This is what we strive for.” 

Marsha Hammel