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Ursula's artist profile
Artist Profile
Ursula Marcum is a performing and visual artist who is fed by two distinct practices: one consists of being a part of highly collaborative works on a grand scale, while the other resides in independently creating artwork that is personal, quiet, and celebrates the wonder to be found in small, everyday things. Each practice informs and balances the other. Originally trained as a designer for theater (B.A., Catholic University) and museum exhibitions (M.F.A, George Washington University), she is inspired to tell stories that are a mixture of both the magical and the ordinary.
As the Co-Artistic Director of Submersive Productions, she works with teams of wildly imaginative people to create original, site-specific, immersive worlds where artists and audiences engage together at the intersection of histories, mythologies and the immediate experience. For these shows she has donned many hats, including Co-Producer, Prop Master and Fabricator, Set Designer and Set Dresser, Puppet Fabricator, Puppeteer and Ensemble Member. Since its founding in 2015, Submersive has produced over 15 shows and has received awards such as "Best Theater Experience" (City Paper), "One-of-a-Kind Theater Company" (Baltimore Magazine), and "Best Devised Show" (B.I.T.R. Sisters).
As a puppeteer and visual artist, Marcum works in a small scale in order to establish an intimate, personal connection with audience members. Her puppets and glass artworks are grounded in materiality, and celebrate quiet and contemplation.
She believes in the power of art making within a community to imagine something better, together, and bring it into existence. Helping to build a supportive, just and equitable artistic environment in Baltimore is key to her practice, whether large or small.
