new work this spring

I spent a lot of time alone when I was a child.  I grew up on a farm near Fort Frances in North Western Ontario, and from an early age I realized that making things helped me to find my true self.  

At the age of 12 I began to sew my own clothes and also to sell the doll clothes I loved to invent.  As a teen, I attended some painting classes with my mother and was encouraged by the teachers. 

beauty emotion spirit soul    judy martin  49" square

It was still a happy surprise however that I eventually turned these childhood passions into accomplished hand stitched art made in Northern Ontario, Canada. 

my soft jewel-heart   judy martin  28 inches square before frame

The framed mini quilt is a new piece for the Perivale gallery's summer season, opening May 19 in Spring Bay Manitoulin island.
Beauty Emotion Spirit Soul is the title piece for the  exhibition that took place last month at One Sky gallery in Sudbury. 
The biographical text is a small section of the writing I apparently need to do for the new website, still under construction.  I have to make sure there are keywords within it.  It's hard, and I am starting to question and doubt.   

monumental simplicity

The installation of the work in this space at One Sky is celestial.
The pieces are like stars in a constellation, each in its place yet connected to the others with invisible power lines.

Monumental Simplicity is part of this exhibition.

I made it in 2012, the thesis piece for my UK degree. 

A large ‘empty’ square.
with a horizon
and repetitive small marks that distract the eye just enough.

More images of this exhibition are here.

What are you working on now?

I'm taking turns stitching into two pieces.
Connected by their design, both are large nine-patches.

One is stitched with black thread, the other with white thread.

expectations/memories/dreams

 

Circles within squares are design elements they have in common.

The cloth was found in my life collection of small pieces of fancy cloth.
(taffeta, linen damask, wool suiting, and silks of all sorts)

I stitched or painted on all the squares earlier. 

At first I thought that maybe they didn't need hand stitch
I was hoping to love their simplicity more.

But now,  the chika-chika marks of running stitch/ kantha stitch
has risen the level of intimacy in these two wall pieces
and has given them power.

(...and they fit into my suitcase.  Hola from Mexico xo)

sensuous

christmas table with old family silver and the june wedding cloth

Our five senses (taste, touch, sight, sound, smell) give us material memories that the body can hold

new year's eve with melted metal luck-fortunes and sugar-coffee-lemon ready for vodka shots

in our unconscious and we are able to access that knowledge of sensuous physical experiences forever.

Cuba Journal

It's difficult to narrow down to 7 the 400 photos I took last week in Cuba. During the entire time I was awestruck by the picturesque beauty of the place and by the resilience of the friendly Cuban people. Pictured above, an airy corner of our hotel room, taken on our first day there. (Wednesday) Thursday - a day at the beach.
Friday - we joined a bus tour and went to Havana for the day. Saturday - another beautiful (and hot)day on the beach. Sunday - we travelled by jeep into the countryside and visited a local farm (interior of the house is pictured). I'll likely share more photos of this day. Monday - there was a red flag on the beach to signify that it was too rough to swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Tuesday - a typical view from the bus window as we went to the airport to fly home. At the airport we purchased some CD's of Cuban music.

Anything marvelous is beautiful

photo by neighbour John Savage. Open-Pit-Freeze-up.


The marvelous is always beautiful.
Anything marvelous is beautiful.
Only the marvelous is beautiful."

From the surrealist manifesto by Andre Breton

working small

This silk floss sample is only about 5 inches square. (ten hours)

Gentle and fearless

What's more important?

Beauty

I've have been reading about modern art. I am struck by the idea put forward by many contemporary painters that representational art is too concerned with the surface beauty of things. Art should not be about objectivity but transcendence. Beauty lies not in verisimilitude but in balance.

Kandinsky

Last week I was interested in Eugene Delacroix's thoughts about the superiority of painting and music over literature. Perhaps these ideas are explained in Wassily Kandinsky's 1911 book Concerning the Spiritual in Art.

Kandinsky proposes a mystic vision of art, one that brings music and painting together to promote a spiritual change in those who experience it.

The idea is that art should touch us at a level beyond that of beauty.

The Power and Beauty of Hand Stitched Textiles

It takes about one second to make each hand stitch. The repeated touching and the amount of time spent with the piece is made obvious by the resulting beautiful stitch. Beauty thus has power because the resulting artwork expresses thoughtful caring and tenderness.