New Biography

For nearly thirty years, Judy Martin has participated in over one hundred group shows in Canada, the USA, Europe, and Japan and has produced twenty-four solo exhibitions. Her wall piece, Cross My Heart, was the only Canadian entry juried into the prestigious Quilt National 2011 exhibition. Despite these achievements, Martin is not part of the urban art world network. Her entire life has been spent in the relative isolation and peaceful beauty of Northern Ontario, Canada. This self-imposed retreat has had a marked effect on her work with stitch and cloth. The artist resides with her husband on Manitoulin Island, the furthest south she has ever lived. Her Finnish father and intellectual mother raised their family on a large property ten miles from the North Western Ontario town of Fort Frances. All her life Martin has studied art and in June 2012, she graduated with the second fine art degree acquired through distance education, a first class honours BA in Embroidery from Middlesex University in the UK. Her work is grounded in the phenomenological idea that the sense of touch is the most effective way to connect emotionally with others. Her repetitive stitches communicate directly to our inner world. The Finnish characteristic, SISU, (courage, optimism, indomitable will) sets Judy Martin's work apart.