Marlena Goodman was born and raised in Los Angeles and received her BA in studio art with Honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Only after graduating, however, did she fall in love with clay for its delicate and expressive nature. Goodman’s work focuses on divulging the female figure in an often discomforting, vulgar, and vulnerable fashion. Through unnerving exaggerations of the body to toy-like imagery and the utilization of real human hair and teeth, Goodman evokes disgust to challenge the pleasure associated with gazing upon the female form. In pursuit of a wider range of mediums and new creative communities, Goodman left southern California behind to explore different craft schools around the country. Goodman has studied ceramics, fiber arts, and metals at a variety of institutions such as Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the John C. Campbell Folk School, Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft, and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts. She is now an early career artist resident at Northern Clay Center and currently resides in Minneapolis, MN.