Martha was born in 1953 in Kansas City, Missouri, the youngest in the family, and the only girl. The family moved from Kansas City to St. Louis, Missouri, followed by Carmel California, and Seattle Washington, all by the time Martha was eight years old. The Walkers moved to Sweden for three years, starting in 1961, spending one full year in a remote forest location. After this, Martha landed back in the United States, attending both junior high and high school in Miami Beach, Florida before her move to Brooklyn, New York, where she attended Pratt Institute from 1971-1976, majoring in sculpture and drawing. Martha stayed in Brooklyn, going back for her Masters Degree at Pratt Institute from 1999 – 2001, where she graduated with honors. She is now a Brooklyn native, married with two children.
The unusual travel history of her youth was precipitated by her parents’ desire to travel. Her father, Leonard was a nuclear physicist opposed to the arms race, opting instead for medical research. (Leonard was credited with the original use of radioactive isotopes as a means of tracking infection and cancer in the lymph system.) His research laboratory was a place that Martha frequented, viewing microorganisms under the microscope, something that she sites to this day as an influence on her abstract visual perspective. Additionally, Martha’s middle brother, David, was an avid painter, who “raised the bar” for her artistically.
Other influences on Martha came from the frequent relocations as a child. The most obvious was the disparate geography that she observed, from the American Plains, to the Pacific Coast and mountain ranges, along with the rich Swedish forests, followed by the Atlantic Ocean and sandy beaches in Florida. However, the cultural influences were also important. In almost every new place, Martha became aware of what it meant to be an outsider, looking in, especially in Europe, where she became acquainted with Jewish children whose parents were survivors of the Holocaust. This had a profound effect on her, even as a nonreligious Jew, resulting occasionally in work with themes of Jewish identity and the Holocaust.
EDUCATION
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
1975 BFA, Fine Arts
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
2001 Masters in Art Education, Honors
EXHIBITIONS
2010 Solo Exhibition Kouros Gallery 23 East 73rd Street, 1st Floor, New York, New
York 10021
2009 Toren Exhibition, Toren Exhibition, 150 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Curated
Show, six sculptures
2009 UBS Art Gallery, in conjuction with the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum: A
Parallel Presence: National Association of Women Artists, 1889-2009. 1285 Avenue
of the Americas, New York, New York
2009 Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, A Parallel Presence: : National Association of
Women Artists, 1889-2009. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New
Jersey
2008 Kouros Sculpture Center, Installed Passion Unfurled and Tempest, Ridgefield,
Connecticut
2008 Broadfoot & Broadfoot, ‘Tween Woods and Water New York, New York
2008 Denise Bibro Fine Art, Winter Salon, Gallery and Invited Artists, New York, New York
2007 440 Gallery, Holiday Show , Brooklyn, New York
2007 440 Gallery, Undercurrents, Solo Exhibition Brooklyn, New York
2007 Saks Fifth Avenue, Windows on 5th, New York, New York
2007 Vermont Studio Center, 2 week residency
2007 440 Gallery, Process, Group Show, Brooklyn, New York
2007 National Association of Women Artists, Group Show
2007 Belskie Museum, Closter, New Jersey, Moving Forward
2006 Lyceum Theater, Habitat
2006 Gowanus Artists Studio Tour, Brooklyn, New York
2006 Denise Bibro Fine Art, Chelsea New York
2006 Smithtown Township Arts Council, Mills Pond Gallery, Art of Music
2006 Monster Gallery and Lyceum Theater, Womanhouse Too!
2006 Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Pier Show, Transformations Show
2006 440 Gallery Group Show, Brooklyn, New York
2006 Connections, Studio Montclair’s 2006 National Juried Exhibition William Patterson
University, Wayne, NJ
2006 Liberty Site Group Show, Brooklyn, New York
2005 440 Gallery, Polymorphism in Steel Solo Exhibition, Brooklyn, New York
2005 440 Gallery Group Exhibition, Brooklyn, New York
2004 Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Pier Show, Water Show, and Solo Works
Exhibitions.
2004 Gowanus Arts Studio Tour, Brooklyn, New York
2003 Gowanus Arts Studio Tour, Brooklyn, New York
2003 Columbia County Artswalk, Hudson, N.Y.
2001 Collaborative Concepts Exhibition, Beacon, New York.
ACHIEVEMENTS
2009 Installed End Justifies the Means, Justifies the End Pratt Institute Campus
2009 Solo Exhibition Expanding Universe at the Phillips Museum, Franklin and Marshall
College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
2008 Birth and Venus sold and installed at the Boca Beach Resort & Club, Boca Raton, Fla.
2007 Works selected by television show, “Gossip Girls” for set props in an art gallery setting
2007 Solo show reviewed by Olympia Lambert, Oly’s Musings:
http://lamgelinaoly.blogspot.com/ Martha Walker at 440 Gallery, Sunday October 7th,
2007
2007 Featured on Long Island News Channel 12, Chauncey Howell interview
2007 Aphrodite acquired by the Jane Vorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick , New
Jersey.
2006 Interviewed by Manhattan Arts International, also featured as the Artist of the week.
2006 Interviewed by MyArtSpace.
2006 Installed Birth, a seven foot high sculpture on the campus of Pratt Institute.
2001 Named “New Yorker of the Week” by New York 1 News
A volunteer collaboration project which I coordinated and intitiated with New York City
Elementary schools, entitled, New York City’s Kids Imagine World Peace. Can You?
The projects parameters consisted of a giant banner, made up of individually designed
sections, and composed of visual symbols and words proclaiming a vision of world
peace. Installed at Brooklyn Borough Hall, Brooklyn, NY.
ORGANIZATIONS
Sculptors Guild, International Sculpture Center, National Association of Women Artists,
Sculptor.org
GALLERY AFFILIATIONS
Kouros Gallery 23 East 73rd Street, 1st Floor, New York, New York 10021 (212) 288-5888
www.kourosgallery.com
Elaine Baker Gallery 608 Banyon Trail, Boca Raton, Florida (561) 241-3o50
www.elainebakergalery.com
COLLECTIONS
Zimmerli Art Museum
Anne Frank Center, USA
Kouros Sculpture Center
Boca Beach Club & Resort
Morgan Stanley Corporation
Pratt Institute
Individuals provided upon request
