Marge Marantos

Marge Marantos, a local rancher’s wife who is sometimes late for her shift at the gallery because she has had to chase down escaped calves, is well-known in the Tehachapi area for her realistic western and wildlife paintings. In fact, her detailed paintings and life-like sculptures, which she says are her passion, have been well-received all over the country and are part of many private and corporate collections.

Marge especially considered herself fortunate to “have had the privilege to study with Millie Funk,” who was her mentor and close friend and who is now deceased. It is almost impossible to talk with Marge about her work without hearing her praise Millie and acknowledge her teacher’s wealth of talent and knowledge and her willingness to share it, and we in Tehachapi are fortunate that in agreement with Funk’s estate, Marge also has brought some of Millie’s work to CrossRoads Gallery.

Millie was a well-known national artist and was many-times published, claiming quite a few Western magazine covers. Her work also appears still on Leanin’ Tree note cards and limited edition prints. You can see her influence in Marge’s work, although Marge’s work stands quite nicely on its own, with its own unique vision, style and presentation. Whether Marge is painting or drawing a critter of the wild or the barnyard, or a scene of cowboys at work or at rest -- or the portrait of a person real or imagined – the details and depth of feeling a viewer experiences in the finished work of art goes far beyond the actual image: Marge offers special insights into her subjects that few other artists can match.