Judith E Martin creates large, poetic, hand-stitched quilts that combine circular drawings with the tradition of North American bed quilts. In her work, she makes visible the profound feelings that rise up within her while stitching. The artist lives and works on an island in Canada and stitches with a hoop while seated near a large East facing window where her view takes in both sky and water.
In this video Judith shares the stories behind the quilts in her solo exhibition – Softer and Dreamier.
Judith E Martin
Materials take the lead for this artist. Many of the fabrics she chooses are old, soft, damask table linens, full of time and ritual. She also uses colourful silks and block printed cottons from India, organza or wool that she dyes herself, or references her Finnish roots with a Marimekko print. She uses both sides of her quilts, with a different title for each side. This body of work is about the process of making it, and the stars and the clouds that she represents in the finished pieces are Judy’s attempt to share her interior world.
In this solo exhibition, Canadian artist Judith E Martin explores the cosmic circles above us and the dream world within us.
Judith 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. Filmed at the Festival of Quilts 2024.
Judith E Martin: https://www.judithemartin.com
Slow Stitch: mindful and contemplative textile art by Claire Wellesley Smith (2015) (https://amzn.to/48VLn90)
Further reading
If you’ve enjoyed watching this video, you might like the work of Janice Gunner featured in a video from the Festival of Quilts 2024.