Dr. Marianne L. Goldberg, director and founder of Pathways Gathering Space, died peacefully at her home in Chilmark on Dec. 21, 2015 after a sudden and brief illness, surrounded by friends.
Dr. Marianne L. Goldberg died peacefully at her home in Chilmark on Dec. 21, 2015 after a sudden and brief illness, surrounded by friends.
Marianne was born in Chicago, Ill. on Sept. 10, 1952 to Adrienne and Richard Goldberg. She grew up in Winnetka, Ill., with her two sisters, Susan and Donna and their much-loved beagle, Buttons. She is predeceased by her beloved parents, Richard and Adrienne Goldberg of Winnetka. She will be greatly missed by her sisters, Susan Goldberg of Winnetka, Ill. and Denver. Colo., and Donna Goldberg of Vershire, Vt.; her aunt, Marilyn Chapman of Chicago, Ill.; her uncle, Myron Chapman of Chicago, Ill. and Boca Raton, Fla., numerous cousins and many, dear friends.
Marianne was a multi-talented, creative choreographer, writer and visual artist. As director and founder of Pathways Gathering Space for Arts & Oceans in Chilmark, she directed multiple collaborative arts community events. Pathways has “kept a light on in Chilmark” during the winter months by providing a venue for the artistic community to gather, organize recitals, concerts, poetry readings and gift honoraria awards to local artists. She initiated the OceA Wilderness Festival in 2010 and in 2015 MAKE WAVES Martha’s Vineyard, a spring festival of light across our waters. UNFURLING/To Inhabit Together, Marianne’s choreography and photography project since 2012, explores ocean geography, kinetic architecture and intermedia. It has been performed at Pathways Gathering Space and at the Yard in Chilmark. Her most recent choreographed work was presented this past September.
Marianne received her doctorate in performance studies from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, MFA in choreography from Smith College and BA in aesthetic education from UC Santa Cruz. Her scholarly writings and performance pieces for print have been published in the Drama Review, Artforum International, Women and Performance and numerous journals and books. Her choreography has been performed across the U.S. and internationally, from Grand Central Station to Washington Square Park, from urban cafes to conference podiums, from dirt fields to blooming gardens.
Marianne’s deep love of the ocean fueled her desire to one day create a Martha’s Vineyard protected ocean wilderness hope spot. She adored her Chilmark home high on the bluffs, overlooking the pristine sea.
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 29, at 2 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, 130 Center St., Vineyard Haven. Burial will follow at the Abel’s Hill Cemetery on South Road in Chilmark. A celebration of her life will be held at a later date.
Donations in her memory may be made to Pathways Projects Institutes Limited, PO Box 437, Chilmark, Ma. 02535. Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home, Edgartown Road, Oak Bluffs.
Visit ccgfuneralhome.com for online guest book and information.
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The board and staff of The
David R White West TisburyThe board and staff of The Yard have lost more than a friend. Marianne was (and is) an inspired imagineer of both salon and community. A passionate spirit guide for those of us determined to aid and nurture artists of all persuasions on this island, even in the darkness of up-island winter, Marianne gathered around her an island's worth of poets and writers, musicians, visual artists, puppeteers and dancers as her own art-making, in OceA, deepened over time. For those of us fortunate enough to have stopped by The Chilmark Tavern on more than one snowy night, entered the warmth and light, eager conversations and nascent creations of the Pathways Gathering Space, it was always a return to a Brigadoon of communal artists rampant on Marianne's ocean field.
The Yard is proud to have hosted Marianne's OceA final choreographic explorations in September 2015, in what appears in retrospective as a culminating dive into the art of choreography she so loved and the environmental source materials inspired by the ocean views she so lovingly captured off the deck of her Wequobsque Road home. Counseled by Yard artist Jesse Keller (a singular Marianne muse in the creation of Unfurling) and others, Marianne brought 10 dancers to the The Yard in a residency that resulted in performances that too place both on The Yard's stage and on Chilmark's fluid sands. The residency proved another example of Marianne's community-building craft, touching and assembling curious, risk-taking minds and bodies and launching them as a creative force into her own private landscape. The Yard owes Marianne much, and gave back what it could. Her legacy becomes our spur for future unbridled, "unfurling" dedication to the art of island community, and the dances that sail us over the waters we share.
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