The Sky / Le Ciel is installed in Sudbury

from left:   all the lived emotions (the two sculptures),
sacred ground,
the day, the night, and then the day again,
and prayer cloth: hope

The Sky : New Quilts by Judy Martin has just been installed in the art gallery of Sudbury.  Martin was invited to exhibit at this venue for the entire summer (June 17 - August 30) by gallery director/curator, Demetra Christakos.  Ally Zmijowskyj Carlos was in charge on the installation of the fourteen textile artworks.

from left:  under drifting stars, sky with many moons,
starry starry in middle of room,
the day, the night, and then the day again,
prayer cloth:hope and inner world.

The opening reception will happen on July 10, 5-7 pm.  

This exhibition is being shown at the art gallery of Sudbury's temporary location, (174 Elgin Street, downtown Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.).  The art gallery of Sudbury will be moving into a renovated building in 2026 or 2027.  

Breaking the Blocks podcast

The Art of Imperfection: Judy Martin's interview with Rachel Pierman is live.  Click here to listen.    For those who prefer to watch as well as listen, there is a youtube version. click here 

Velvet Journal: The Rescuer  by Judy Martin 
an english paper pieced velvet journal with magazine and journal papers left in
this is the second side of this piece
the first side is made of party fabrics and black velvet hearts
hand stitched, 54 x 66 inches, 2001
An excellent example of a two-sided quilt. 
The back represents the inner life, the front, the dress-up we wear to face the world.

Claire Keegan said:   

“We all have a life we show and a life we hide and we have a life that we quietly live.”  

Perivale Gallery opens for the summer 2025 season

 

Prayer for the twenty-first century: Family 
red thread on cotton and wool, 2025 12 x 12 inches

Prayer for the twenty-first century:  Understanding 
red silk thread on linen , mounted on wool blanket 2025 12 z 12 inches

Prayer for the twenty-first century:  Courage
  red and gold thread on linen, mounted on wool blanket, 2025  12 x 12 inches

Prayer for the Twenty-first century: Freedom 
 red silk thread on linen, mounted on wool blanket 2025 12 x 12 inches

a quilt for baby earth  red thread on linen, hand quilted to pink linen backing, velvet applique, embroidered text by Canadian poet PK Page, "Planet Earth"

This season, Judy Martin is showing four small red thread embroidered pieces and one crib-quilt sized artwork at the Perivale Gallery on Manitoulin Island.  The gallery opens with Ivan Wheale's solo exhibition on the long weekend.  May 16.  The gallery will be open on weekends through May and June.  In July and August, it is open 7 days a week.  

The gallery mostly sells landscape paintings of Canada's beautiful and spiritual wild north - and Judy's work stands out from the rest of the pieces in the gallery because it is abstract and because it is made from hand stitched cloth.  If you visit the gallery and do not see the quilt or some of the textile pieces, be sure to ask at the front desk because things get put in the back room sometimes. x

Please contact the gallery if you are interested in purchasing any of Judy's pieces.    Perivale Gallery

Classics Reimagined

You Are A Single Star
fifty year old appliques, velvet, naturally dyed wool, 89 x 89 inches
hand stitched, 2024

When I was a bride, I made a dresden plate quilt from sewing scraps.  it became worn out after years of use, and in 2019, I began mending it by unpicking the plates and then re-applying them to new wool cloth that I've coloured with local plants. Some of the original patches were worn through, so I replaced those few with silk velvet.  My sensuous youth is held in these stitches.  Judy Martin

Helen Adams, The Textile Curator, was invited by the Surface Design Association to put together a virtual exhibition from the membership.  She decided on the theme of Classics Reimagined, and chose thirty pieces; One of them was Judy Martin's large hand stitched quilt, You Are A Single Star.  

Please visit the virtual exhibition at this link and see the entire show.    

Minimalism on exhibit in the Chicago area

 

Help Me To Balance

mended flannel sheets and cotton towels

hand quilted with red button thread

90 x 66 inches, 2018

This quilt is one of 45 selected by Dorothy Caldwell in 2022 for an exhibition entitled Minimalism, showing this weekend at the h+h americas convention in Rosemont, Illinois May 7 - May 9 2025.  

For an idea of the complete show catalogues are available to purchase from SAQA.  Images of all 45 quilts in the exhibition can be viewed at this link.                                                                                                                                                                       

Craft Ontario promotes the Award program with images of Judith Martin's work

Prayer Cloth: Hope   by Judy Martin  2024

golden rod on cotton, stitched with red thread

40 x 40 inches

Two of Judy Martin's new works have been chosen by Craft Ontario to promote the award applications on social media.  Martin won one of the awards in 2024 (the Gladstone House award).  

Martin's work is featured on Craft Ontario's Instagram account (here)  and on the council's facebook promotional page.  (here).

Applying for the Craft Council awards helps an artist to gather their work together, take stock of what has been accomplished, and what direction one might want to go in future work.   Judy Martin

You Are A Single Star by Judy Martin
Fifteen Dresden Plate appliques made in the 70's, new wool, natural dyes
90 x 90 inches, 2024, hand stitched with wool and cotton thread.  

Ontario Craft Council highlights the 2025 awards on their website, as well as listing all 2024 recipients. 

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.