Feminine Writing

prayer to the sky reverse side

On February 12, Judy Martin made a zoom presentation about her work in quilts to the Kanata Quilt Guild.  Each time Judy speaks about her work, she learns more about herself and about how it fits into the larger world of poetics and fine art.  During this talk, Judy introduced the ideas of French philosopher / intellectual / writer, Helene Cixous that describe feminine writing.  

The feminine writer, like a mother, looking with a look that recognizes, studies, respects, doesn’t take, doesn’t claw, but attentively, with gentle relentlessness, contemplates and caresses, bathes, and makes the other shine.  She brings back to light the life what has been buried, and signs its name.  H. Cixous 

basic goodness reverse side

Judy also quoted Louise Bourgeois in her talk on February 12.  In her last decades, Bourgeois made art pieces from her hoarded clothing and domestic cloth, and famously stated:  Art is a guarantee of sanity.  For Bourgeois, creating art is a life-saving, curative tool for porcessing trauma and emotional struggles and was not just a decorative object or product.  

Images of Judy's current work introduced and ended the talk.  During the presentation, Judy discussed and illustrated about how her mothering, her worrying, and where she lives are always within her work.  

Quilts are Journals: The catalogue

 

There is a sweet catalogue about the Quilts are Journals exhibition at 100 percent shop and gallery that has gone through a re-printing.  The catalogue contains the complete transcript of an interview that Judy Martin had with Anni Spadafora before the exhibition opened. 

To purchase ($10.00) :  contact the gallery:

1558 Dupont Street , Toronto, ontario

 hello@100percentsilkshop.com  416-419-3662

The 100% gallery also had the entire show professionally photographed by Miki Francis Sankara.  Those magical photos can be seen on the 100% shop and gallery's newsletter at this link.  

Many thanks to 100% silk for hosting a mini-retrospective of Judy Martin's work and providing a printed catalogue.  

The Renewal exhibition is at Bruce County Museum

Renewal, the SAQA exhibition of Canadian members is at Bruce County Museum   in Southampton, Ontario this winter.  January 10 until April 19, 2026.

Given our current global events, the SAQA exhibtion theme of Renewal presents artists with a timely opportunity to address this issue in their work.  The social, econiomic, and politica unravelling we are experiencing, and particular, following recent health threats, has unleashed a profuse outpouring of artworks that challenge us to reconsider the human condition in the broadest sense.  It is the jurors' hope that the choices we haave made satisfy the exhibitionis's criteria while the elasticity of the artworks featured in the exhibition situate local commentatries of making within wider negotaiontions of meaning to reflect alternative paths to renewal inu our current global situation.

Giving life back in a new form to older used quilts is Judy Martin's quintessential quest as evidenced in the detailed work in Poet in Love.  And we know who the poet is.   (above)

Rise Again, Susan Avishai's mythical Phoenix cleverly reuises men's shirt parts to rise from  the ashes.

In Life Rings True, Robynne Cole compares an individual's life stages to the life erings of a tree, illustrating this journey from birth to decline.  

  

In Mita Giacominimi's Bovinity, a cow and her calf suggest the most primal kind of renewal - bearing and nurtuing the thread of life.  

Craft historian Bruce Metcalf has suggested that crafts, including textiles, are inherently a contingent art form that dervives value and meaning from how they materialize function, skill, and design, and encapsulate life experience.  The pieces in this exhibition embrace Metcalf's concept, as each work illustrates the diverse channels through which everyday objects such as quilts can speak to our global concern and quest for renewal - in whatever form. 

The above text contains excerpts of juror David Kaye's in the beautiful catalogue for the Renwal exhibition which is available through the museum.  The exhibiton was juried by David Kaye, Leona Herzog, and Brandt Eisner.  

Quilts Are Journals at 100 percent Silk

100% Silk Shop & Gallery is exhibiting a collecion of Judith Martin's quilts entitled Quilts are Journals from February 7 - March 7 , 2026.  The exhibition includes quilts that Martin made from the 1980s alongside more recent works.  Across these many decades the artist notes her unwavering ability to find healing throguh her quilting process.  

The results are varied hand-dyed and hand-stitched quilts, often large-scale with interest in complex and minimalist patterns. Together these works celebrate an artist who has spent decades with the traditions of quilting, bringing deep curiosity and experimentation.  And more, explores the heightened state of attention that working with textile techniques often brings, making her writing an extraordinary companion to the quilts themselves.    

Throughout the endless archives of Judy's Journals, Judith records the regular stuff of life like appointments, family visits, and celebrating holidays while also reflecting on the imperatives of creating as if they are one and the same, at random, as expected, all rich.  She often shares photos of her quilting in the passenger seat of the car, driving the coutnry roads of Northern Ontario. 

She references other artists like Lucy Lippard and Anne Truitt to reflect on material knoweldge and the devotion of practice, sharing images of theri work and quoting their writing.  Judith's desire to make connections and create work seems boundless.  

Judith Martin was born in 1951 in Fort Frances, Ontario but relocated to Manitoulin Island with her husband and four children in 1993.  She continues to reside there.

Coming from a family of artists and scientists she obtained her teaching diploma from Lakehead University in 1969 and spent years teaching classical piano and grade 4 cohorts in Northern Ontario communities.  She made her first quilt in 1972 using one of the most complex quilting patterns, crown of thorns, and has been dedicatedly making quilts ever since.  

Curators:  Lee Dekel and Inez Genereux, from 100% Silk Shop & Gallery, 1558 Dupont Street, Toronto

Exhibition text:  Anni Spadafora

Mercy

The lovely catalogue has been reprinted and is available from the gallery. 

Quilts are Journals, a solo exhibition in Toronto

Judy Martin was invited to exhibit her work at 100% silk shop and gallery in Toronto.  Lee Dekel, the founder and lead designer at the gallery and her creative partner, Inez Genereux, chose textiles that span Judy's fifty year career.  The artist will be present at the opening on February 7 from 2-5 pm.  

The exhibition will be on display at 1558 Dupont street from February 7 until March 7, 2006.

Heart Work

 

Heart Work:  A zoom presentation for the Textile and Fibre Artists of Manitoba occurred January 20, 2026 at 6:30 pm, Central time.   Judy read from her current journal during the talk, and showed the baby quilts and mended quilts as well as her recent exhibition pieces.  The presentation was relaxed and intimate.  It is shared here if you are interested.  

Nouveau Louvre 2025

 

ceremony for wildness:  silk thread on vintage table linen 2023

Ceremony for Wildness sold on opening day of the Nouveau Louvre fundraising exhibition for le Galerie du nouvel Ontario.   

The deal is that you pay $225 for the art, and $75 goes to the gallery and the rest to the artist.  It is a very popular event in Sudbury, Ontario with most local artists participating. 

View the online sale at this link or visit the gallery in person 27 Larch Street, Sudbury, Ontario