Marian Rorapaugh was born in the Dakota territory on November 7, 1885. After attending the Cincinnati Art Institute, she married William B. Field. Marian Field was the head of the University of North Dakota Art Dept. from 1905 to 1909, and attended the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts in 1909. After the Fields moved to Eugene, Oregon, in 1910, she set up a china painting business. She attended the University of Oregon, earning a B.A. in fine arts in 1930, and did graduate work from 1931 to 1933. From 1929 to 1933 Field was also an assistant in the university's art and architecture library.
From 1939 to 1942 Field directed the Salem Art Center as part of a Works Progress Administration project. After funding for the center was cut, she became an instructor in the Art Department at Oregon State College in October 1942. At OSC, Field taught classes in pen sketching, pencil sketching, color and composition, fashion illustration and scientific illustration. She also taught painting and sketching at the Homemaker's Camp during the summer. Field retired from Oregon State as Professor Emeritus of Art in July 1951, and moved to Berkeley, California, to be near her daughter's family.
From the guide to the Marian Field Collection, 1936-1982, 1936-1941, (Oregon State University University Archives)
