about judy
I make quilts.
I make quilts to hang on the wall like large paintings or drawings, quilts that can be read like poems or stories, quilts to use on the bed. I make quilts that take care of me as I create them.
When I was just starting out, I discovered Radka Donnell’s book A Quilt Poetics and her statement that: “working in cloth helped me to concentrate on things that I had hitherto neglected: my body, my losses, my anger, my own goodness, my yearning for tenderness, social contact, peace on earth. “ Inspired by this list, I studied world textiles, traditional and intuitive quilt design, chemical and natural dyeing, fine art, literature, and poetry in both a program of self study and with two universities. All the while, I continued to make quilts and have now been making them for fifty years.
Hand stitching adds the softness of lived time to my work, and although the mark making is slow, what I hope you experience is poetic. Sudden. Making is an act of affirmation and love and I am grateful to have such a passion. I will continue to make quilts.
judith e martin 2024
Judy Martin grew up on a large rural property in the Fort Frances area of Canada. She married Ned martin when she was 22 and the couple raised their four children in three beautiful northern Ontario locations; Thunder Bay, Kenora, and Manitoulin Island. Judy and her husband continue to live and work on Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada.
Judith e Martin made her first quilt at the age of twenty and soon became inspired by the quilt’s connection to the important life passages that occur in bed. During the 90’s, she made hand-stitched story quilts using the poetic code she discovered in traditional quilt patterns and world embroidery. Martin holds two BA degrees in fine art, (1993 Lakehead University [Thunder Bay, On] and 2012 Middlesex University [London, UK]). Currently, her most important work is about touch and vulnerability and about the relentless passage of time.
Judith e Martin’s work has been widely exhibited across Canada as well as the USA, Europe, and Asia. Her stitched artwork was featured in the book slow stitch: mindful and contemplative textile art by Claire Wellesley Smith (2015) and is supported by the Ontario Arts Council.
