Starry Starry / Holy Holy enters private collection

Starry Starry

One of Judy Martin's masterpieces, the two-sided linen damask / organdy textile, has entered private collection this month.

Starry Starry is made from a linen damask table cloth that has been dyed with procion dye and marked with a grid of holes.  These holes are filled with velvet using the reverse applique technique.  The dots are encircled by radiating lines that are embroidered with silk threads. 

Holy Holy

But there is more.  The other side of this two-sided large textile is shaded with a layer of sheer dark brown organza, that was sttiched with floral stars.  These stitched elements join the two layers with time and touch.  The second side is entitled Holy Holy.

Starry Starry / Holy Holy has shown in three solo exhibitions by Judy Martin.  Inside Out in 2023, Softer and Dreamier 2024, and The Sky 2025.  

procion dye on linen damask, natural dye on silk organza, linen damask and silk velvet, silk threads, reverse applique and hand embroidery quilting, 84 x 61inches or 213 x 155 cm,  2023 

From my living room / studio window, I can see the sky above the water of Lake Huron.  One of the most remarkable things about each day is how much the sky and the water change colour.  One of the most remarkable things about the sky, is that there are so many stars in it, even in the daytime.   Judy Martin

sold through Perivale Gallery

Prayer for the 21st century: Courage

silk thread on linen, mounted on wool blanket, framed in wood (frame not shown)

hand stitch

12 inches x 12 inches  2025  by Judy Martin

Sold in July 2025 from the Perivale gallery.

 

Yin Yin enters private collection

 

The title, Yin Yin, refers to the philosophy of yin and yang. 

If yang is fast, yin is slow, if yang is sun, yin is moon.  Yang is my outers self, while yin is my inner.

The first side of this small piece shows off the raw tactility of the wrong side of reverse applique dots, metaphors for our interesting, vulnerable inner selves. 

The back of the piece, usually against the wall, is marked with the right side of those same dots.

yin yin on display in the STARDUST exhibition, 2023, Gore Bay Museum

My work explores the idea of inner self.

yin yin on display in the INSIDE OUT exhibition, 2023,
Homer Watson Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario Canada 

  

Humans have two sides, public and private.                                                                                              With two 'wrong' sides, this piece represents private and private.

Yin yin in SOFTER and DREAMIER exhibition 2024, Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK

An original quilt made with three layers of material. The first layer is made from hand dyed linen. The middle layer is wool batting.  The third layer is white wool gauze. 

A grid of hand dyed velvet dots covers the surface of both the front and the back of the quilt.  On the first side, these dots are surrounded by raw edges of linen, while on the second side the dots are neatly finished.  It was while making the dots that the artist discovered the importance of the second side, or what she terms ‘the inside’.  The ‘inner world’ has since become her primary subject.   

Yin Yin is 27 x 36”             Reverse applique, hand quilted with cotton button thread.

This week, Yin Yin enters a private collection in the USA.   

The two wool bundles from In the Middle of the World return to private collection

Her Arms Wrapped Round and My Heart,
 bundles of broken branches wrapped with dyed wool hanging in front of
Underfoot the Earth Divine, Judy's dyed linen and wool quilt.   
As they were installed in Artsplace, Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia, September 2024

These two wool bundles entered private collection in 2021 after the collector visited In the Middle of the World when the exhibition was installed at The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Almonte, Ontario.  In The Middle of the World is a two part exhibition of stitched art by Judy Martin and Penny Berens.  (curator Miranda Bouchard). The bundles are an important part of the show.   . 

My Heart with The Forever at the World of Threads, Oakville Ontario, October 2023

The exhibition went on tour in Canada during 2023 and 2024 and the collector kindly loaned the pieces back to the artist for this period of time..  

Her Arms Wrapped Round with Eternity at the World of Threads Festival, Oakville Ontario in 2023

The two bundles installed in the Douglas Family Art Centre, Kenora , May 2023
background is Penny Berens' Waiting Between Night and Day, hand stitched linen

Now the tour is over and the bundles are being returned to the collector who lives in Quebec.

Judy is full of gratitude.  

The titles of the two bundles come from this poem by WB Yeats.

When my arms wrap you round I press

My heart upon the loveliness

That is long faded from the world

W B Yeats