About Galina Marcus

I am an artist, strategist, and community builder

What I Care About

I care about honesty in making and sharing work. Art lives in bodies, places, and relationships, and it matters most when it carries meaning. I believe community is infrastructure, not a tactic—supporting artists and inviting collectors into context builds lasting connection.

Why I Work With Artists

I work with artists who want visibility and clarity without compromising their values. Too often, marketing feels performative or out of alignment. My role is to help translate work into systems and language that make sense, supporting creative, financial, and emotional sustainability.

How My Practice Informs My Work

I am a working artist and a strategist with over 20 years in marketing. My studio practice informs my understanding of process, nuance, and integrity. This experience allows me to guide artists with practical, tested approaches that respect their practice and vision.

Experience that informs the work

My background includes more than two decades in corporate marketing, building and leading campaigns, teams, and strategy. I later brought that experience into the arts, founding the San Diego Art Directory, hosting conversations with artists and cultural workers, and curating projects rooted in place and community.

I do not separate this work from my studio practice. Each informs the other.

Bio
Statement
CV

From Russia With Love… to Art

Hi, I’m a self-taught artist, a mental wellness advocate, and an environmental enthusiast. I was born in Moscow in the mid-80s where I lived and worked until moving to San Diego, CA in 2015.

While painting and drawing since early childhood, I only began pursuing a career as a professional artist in 2018 when I decided to join San Dieguito Art Guild in North County San Diego.

I left my corporate marketing career of two decades to devote myself to making art and serving the art community as best I can. Since 2021, I’ve been hosting a podcast, called In The Art Scene where I interviewed art professionals from all over the world about their personal journeys and career paths. In 2023, using my marketing skills and passion for the local San Diego art community, I launched sandiegoartdirectory.com and founded a non-profit of the same name. Its mission is to support access to and promotion of the local arts and culture in San Diego County and Tijualna.

I am an active member of the Carlsbad-Oceanside Art League (COAL) and am also showing my work in group exhibitions around San Diego County.

You may find my work in private collections in the United States, Canada, and on the European Continent.

Art as a form of sanity

Are we truly free to express ourselves? Being stuck in the search of my authentic self (like most of us), I found that it’s easier to express the collective than the personal, whether it’s a reaction to social and political events, or producing art that sells.

We are chasing the idea of being accepted, being a part of something we do not control rather than being ourselves. And what does it mean “to be ourselves?” What would we create if we were free of fear, imposter syndrome, and social pressure?

It took me years and years studying psychology, yoga and mindfulness practice, and of course, therapy to realize that what I have inside is worth being expressed.

Where there are no words, images come. Where there are no sounds, colors come. I combine emotions with ideas in the hope that they will resonate with someone. If this is not the right way to connect with fellow human beings, then what is?

Selected Experience

Founder, San Diego Art Directory (SDAD)
2023 – Present
Podcast Host, In The Art Scene Podcast
2021 – Present
Independent Marketing Strategist
2019 – Present
Corporate Marketing Executive
2003 – 2019

Curatorial Projects

Tell Me a Story: A Visual Memoir by Bea Gold, Nov-Dec. 2025, Jewish Community Center, La Jolla, CA
Resilience in Action, Oct. 2025, the inaugural SD Climate Week event, Vista, CA
Co-curator: Heidi Digert
Homegrown Art Beat (HART), Sept. 2025, Union Hall Gallery, San Diego, CA
Co-curator: Blanca Lucia Bergman
Stages of Womanhood, March 2025, Artist & Craftsman Supplies, San Diego, CA
Co-curators, Artists: Michelle Lubin and Galina Semenova
Vibrant San Diego Small Image Show, Sep. 2024, San Diego, CA
Collaboration with Artist & Craftsman Supplies

Exhibitions

LMNL Gallery pop-up, Aug. 2025, Union Hall Gallery, San Diego, CA
Stages of Womanhood, March 2025, Artist & Craftsman Supplies, San Diego, CA
Light In Darkness by MWA, Sep. 2024, Expressive Arts Gallery, San Diego, CA
Splendid Summer, Jul. 2024, Ashton Gallery (Art On 30Th), San Diego, CA
Art and Poetry For Nice People and Good Dogs, Feb. 2024, Space In Between, San Diego, CA
Beach Party, July 2023, Ashton Gallery (Art On 30Th), San Diego, CA
Daffodil Dreams, Apr. 2023, Ashton Gallery (Art On 30Th), San Diego, CA
Triumph, Oct. 2022, Hera Hub, Carlsbad, CA
Home Sweet Home, June 2022, Ashton Gallery (Art On 30Th), San Diego, CA
Mission Fed Art Walk little Italy, Oct. 2021, San Diego, CA
Obsessed, Apr. 2021, Ashton Gallry (Art On 30Th), San Diego, CA
Quarantine Aquamarine, Sep. 2020, Ashton Gallery (Art On 30Th), San Diego, CA