SUDBURY—The Art Gallery of Sudbury has announced an artist talk on the work of Manitoulin Island artist Judy Martin later this month.
Manitoulin Island-based environmental artist, geo-poet and curator Sophie Edwards will be interviewing exhibiting arts Judith E. Martin on her work, artistic practice and career. Ms. Martin will be available in the exhibition following the talk.
The exhibition, entitled The Sky: New Quilts by Judy Martin, comprises hand-stitched textile art works and one sculptural component.
From her home on Manitowaning Bay, Judy Martin gazes daily at the vast blanket of sky stretching over the water. Each work is a prolonged durational work of time, labour and design, taking inspiration from the reassuring continuity of the cosmic circles and unseen stars above us.
Each work is completely unique, involving multiple uses of materials, including linen, silk, cotton, wool and multiple techniques including natural dying and over-dying, painting, embroidery and hand-stitching.
The artist grew up on a large rural property in Northwestern Ontario. Long solitary summers spent in the shade of willow trees with art supplies and books nurtured an inner dream world that has since become her main subject. For the last thirty years, Judy and her husband have continued to live far from the urban area on Manitoulin Island in the Great Lake Huron.
Ms. Martin combines traditional hand stitch, local natural dyes using domestic textiles to connect poetically with our own interior worlds. Her large format textiles are included in several Ontario public art collections (Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Cambridge), the Canada Council Art Bank, and the International Quilt Museum (Lincoln, Nebraska). Her work has been exhibited in more than 16 solo exhibitions and 49 group exhibitions across Canada, the United States, the UK, France, Germany and Japan. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay Ontario (Chancellor’s Medal) and Bachelor of Arts, Embroidered Textiles, First Class Honours, Middlesex University, London, England. She has been recognized with more than 13 grants and awards.
The artist talk will take place on Saturday, August 23 from 1-2 pm at 170 Elgin Street. The event is free to attend. Space is limited. To reserve your seat, RSVP online at artsudbury.org.