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)