Kenneth Warren Marlow

I met Ken in his rehabilitation center in Alexandria. I was requested by his friends to see him as an art therapist. When we first met I asked him to draw a picture to introduce himself. He drew a sketch of a toad in a jar. This was the beginning of a profound relationship that I am grateful to have had. Ken could not speak and had very limited movement in his right hand only. Drawing and painting was now frustrating to him because he no longer had the mastery of his body to produce the...

He was a terrific, hugely generous and ever-so-interesting friend. He taught me how to look at art. I had a blast whenever I hung out with him - at Yale and in Jackson and D.C. He was a font of hilarious (and usually salacious) gossip. He was full of wit, and fun, and life. He charmed my mother, who thought he was wonderful. He had a huge heart that turned out in the end to be the heart of a lion. I wish I had spent more time with him. I loved him. He took some of my youth with him.

Your work is inspiring...

Ken was one of my closest friends during the prime of my life. We shared countless fine meals, deep laughs, exquisite music, a love of beauty, and lots of utter joy. I was beyond blessed to have spent hours with him just weeks before his passing. The effort he required to scribble his thoughts in a notebook belied his keen mind and masterful memory of times we shared long past. It was moving beyond description, and -- along with the astonishing self portrait he sold to me at the dawn of...

Ken was a dear friend of mine, in college and afterwards. I spent many happy hours watching him paint, going dancing, and laughing a lot. His breathtaking talent as a painter has been an inspiration to me throughout my life, and I am heartbroken that he's gone.

I studied briefly with Ken when he substitued for Danni Dawson's classes at The Art League. He was a great, enthusiastic teacher, a lover of color. The work I saw on more than once occasion at Hollis Taggart in Georgetown showed mastery of composition, superb paint application and I only wished I could have afforded one of his sublime still life's.

A heart felt salute to Ken, who I only met after his stroke. In spite of Ken´s inability to speak we had heart felt and interesting communications through his scratchy writing, music and pictures. Getting to know Ken and observing his will to live under the most excruciating circumstances both amazed and inspired me. He was talented and he deeply loved his friends. He continued to grow internally while his body shrank. A true survivor.