About the artist

“My mother handed me some clay when I was five years old and my hands have been dirty ever since.” 

That pretty much sums up Marta’s art career. She grew up with a family who valued making things with their hands.

Leaving UC Santa Cruz with a BA in “Arts, Crafts and Their History”, she went on to the San Francisco Art Institute for an MA in “Ceramic Sculpture”. Both experiences expanded her views of art and life while affording a broader background to pursue her own work and career to share skills with students of all ages. Her mentors and teachers include Richard Shaw, Al Johnson, Marilyn Levine, and Harry Nakamoto.

Twenty odd years of art residencies in Washington, Nevada and California led to various community college positions teaching ceramics, sculpture, and 3D design. Her longest role was at Columbia Community College in Sonora, CA. Sonora is also the home of the Aloft Gallery where she primarily showed her work for 16 years.

She’s taken and given workshops; worked on anagama crews; won awards and continues to study.

Artist Statement

Art Work makes me feel at my best and a lets the imagination stretch. Animals and the natural world are major themes for my forms and surface work.

My work is primarily coil formed with surfaces usually worked with carving or sgraffito, where a tool cuts through a topcoat of contrasting colored slip. These carvings allow are a field to respond to the day’s events, either in my head, my environment, or the news.

It’s a graphic technique that I turn to more than ceramic glazes. Underlying the building and surface work is a desire to push myself into corners and enjoy the challenge of getting out gracefully.