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this is my official artist statement, and the usual list of selected shows and publications. i'm not really this formal, although i am this serious about my art.
michele merges martens creates mixed media art, often based on her original poems. She creates in layers, with those layers held together by stitches or words. Inherent in her art and poems are choices - words connected with words, colors connected with colors, people connected with people…” Her poems explore varied themes, including the seasons, healing energies, emotions and relationships, and the environment. Her art quilts often interpret the poems as visual images. The poems and the quilts become a series, showing the progression of an emotion, a relationship, or a design.
Creating is also a process, a journey, not linear, but random. Beginning with an idea, or an image, or an emotion, words or images are chosen to convey meaning, for both the writer and the viewer. Changes are made to revise the work, making it more descriptive, more meaningful. Finally, the art is seen, and remembered. Poems and art are made in layers, some to keep, and some to set free.
She recycles found objects, buttons, and old clothes into her quilts, and often experiments with her own hand-painted or hand-dyed fabric, an array of stitches, other fiber techniques, scraps of fabric and fur, hanging threads to make shadows, and other variations. Embellishments are used to symbolize emotions or objects. Sometimes the words of the poems become design elements in the quilts. She experiments with painting and rubber stamping paper and fabric, creating tag art, altered books, and collages.
Her creations are intended to create a connection between Michele and those who see them, as well as maintain a connection between who she was and who she is now. Her love of color comes from many sources - including stained glass windows in her parent’s Byzantine church, the horses on historic carousels in the Binghamton/Johnson City NY area where she grew up, Crayola crayons…
Another factor influencing her creativity is an ongoing struggle with chronic depression. She believes that highs and lows in her life do balance, so that she can see the patterns, over and over. There are times when her mind churns out ideas and she starts numerous projects, excited and inspired by the creative process. Physical tiredness, defeating thoughts, and nothing getting finished is another, opposite side of her creativity. Using the tools she has – strength of will, medicines, dreams – she continues to create.
Ms. Martens is also the Manager of Graduate Programs for the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY.
Selected Shows
· “Off the bed, on the Wall”" backyard forest", Art Quilt Network/Ohio Member Show, August 2003, Fitton Center for Creative Arts, Hamilton, OH
· “911 Las Artistas Reaccionan”" building bones: remembering the towers", (by invitation, collection of Kim Ritter), Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano, Cartago, Costa Rica, mid-October to mid-November, 2002, US Embassy, San José, Costa Rica, mid-November to December, 2002 Curated by Carolyn Veslaghe
· “A Page from My Book: Journal Quilts”, International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX, and Chicago, IL and Troy NY, November 2002 and April 2003 and June 2003
· Quilt 21 2002, Art Quilts of the 21st Century, seaweed nightmare, juried national traveling show, curated by Maxine Farkas and Laura Cater-Woods, Brush Gallery, Lowell, MA, then other national venues August 2002 –August 2004
· Fine Focus 2002, curated by Laura Cater-Woods, Judy Dales, and Kim Ritter (juried, national traveling show) “grid # two” Mansfield OH and then other national venues, February 2002 – February 2005
· America From The Heart, Quilters Remember September 11, 2001, “building bones: remembering the towers”, (collection of Kim Ritter), International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX, November 2002.
· Quilt 21, Art Quilts of the 21st Century, colors behind my eyes, juried national show, curated by Sandra Sider, NY and Maxine Farkas, MA, inaugural show Brush Gallery, Lowell, MA, then national and international venues August 2000 –August 2002
· Aullwood Audubon Society Show,” the end of summer”, , curated by Susan Shie, OH September 2000
· The Dishtowel Calendar Quilt Project, " mom's kitchen closed", (by invitation), curated by Susan Shie, OH. Virtual show on Susan's Web site, (http://www.turtlemoon.com/) March 1999 Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield, OH, June 6-July 11, 1999.
· Fine Focus, curated by Sandra Sider, Bronx. NY (juried show) “moonface playing in a puddle after a storm”,San Jose San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles May 25 - July 15, 2001, The Crest Theatre Gallery, Cornell Museum, Delray Beach, FL, November 1999 - January 2000, and Virtual Web show at http://www.quiltart.com. Other traveling show venues, May 1999 - Feb 2000.
· No-Trad Group Show That’s Not a Real Quilt?, “glitter, glamour, and glitz”, curated by Rachel Roggel, Israel Virtual Web Show at http://www.roggel.com/, Quilt Expo V, Lyon, France. March 1996, International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX November 1996, National Quilt Association Headquarters, Ellicott City, MD, February 1997, 10th Annual Quilter's Heritage Celebration, Lancaster, PA, April 1997, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ., June –August 1997 , Yokohama, Japan., November, 1997
Selected Publications/Readings
· Featured speaker, Art Quilt Network Seminar, Columbus, OH, October 2003
· Featured Artist, Brainwaves Zine, editor Jill Jones, March, 2003
· Quilt Art Magazine "grid # two" picture in article on Fine Focus 2002 Quilts, Summer 2002
· America From The Heart, Quilters Remember September 11, 2001, “building bones: remembering the towers”, (collection of Kim Ritter), C&T Publishing, April 2002.
· Featured Artist, Belle Papier Zine, editor Lloydene Cook, March, 2001
· NY State Writers Institute Poetry Workshop with poet Ed Sanders, by invitation, Spring 2000
· Patchwork Quilt Tsushin #84 ( a Japanese quilting magazine), "glitter, glamour and glitz" picture in TNARQ! article on pp 114-115, "autumn foliage" picture in NoTrad does Nihon article pp. 116-117 June 1998
· Featured Poet , Romaine Brooks Gallery, Albany, NY, February 1997
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