Dianne Martin
My work begins most often with an oil monotype on paper using bits of nature as part of the printmaking process. A monotype is an image made on an etching press that is unique in the way that a painting or drawing is unique: therefore the term "mono (one) type." After each image is made on the press, I begin to develop it further using other materials. I am looking for that initial image to grow into a compelling visual world that bridges reality and imagination. Birds are often inhabitants, but not as particular species. Birds bring life, grace and, at times, conflict to this visual world.
The pieces of nature in my work come from, at times, unlikely places. I live and maintain my studio in Long Island City, still a mostly industrial part of New York City. Oftentimes the twigs, weeds and feathers used in my work are picked up on the street outside my studio door. However, I have also been a part time resident of the North Fork of Long Island for many years. That landscape of creeks, bays, beaches and fields has become an equally important source.
My work has been exhibited in commercial galleries, alternative spaces and artist run galleries in New York City as well as the North Fork of Long Island. In recent years, I have enjoyed holding Open Studio events in my Long Island City studio. This has allowed me to show people my work in the place where it is made. I am represented in many corporate and private collections, including those of Pfizer, Pepsico, David Rockefeller Jr., Credit Suisse First Boston, and the Manhattan Musicians Union. I have been a resident fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Sweetbrier, Virginia. I am a member of the Manhattan Graphics Center, the National Association of Women Artists, and the East End Arts Center. I am listed in Who's Who in American Art. I received a BFA degree in painting from The Rhode Island School of Design and an MA degree in painting from The University of Iowa.
Photographs by Orestes J Gonzalez