Julia Martin is an abstract artist living and working in Denver, Colorado. She grew up in North Carolina, immersed in the traditional fiber arts skills of her great-grandmother (Mammaw) and grandmother (Sarabelle), who were remarkable quilters, seamstresses, and crocheters. Julia built on the traditions of the women in her family by creating her own technique for patchwork pieces.
She combines abstract line work (often sewn) and small paper scraps with layers of oil and wax that are hand-stitched into larger assemblages. Her work depicts small moments that, when joined together, build enduring experiences. Intimacy, grittiness, perseverance, and repair are consistent themes as she scrapes down, covers up, and mends, using thread as a primary tool for her own visual language.
Initially trained in public health and as a certified nurse midwife, Julia allows the same intimate witnessing of joy and grief to guide her current work. Her path to professional art after her work in healthcare inspires her to suture her disparate experiences into her artwork, being, and life.
“I can often be found stitching my work in moments in between. I sew small scraps together, much like these moments come together to make up a day. The resulting patchworks show how I collate visuals, thoughts, memories, and ideas — my grist for living a life. Paper’s pliable, fragile composition allows it to be sutured like skin being gently pulled back together to heal. With their various stages of tension, the seams represent how we hold together when going through significant events individually and collectively. We are tethered to one another.”
Selected Exhibitions:
2024
An Unexpected Twist (invitational group show), Artburst Studios, International Online Show
ReAwakening (group show), NKollective Gallery, Denver
ARTMA (invitational group show), Denver Design Center, Denver
Winter Invitational (invitational group show), NKollectiv Gallery, Denver
2023
Central Park Artists: Selected Works (group show), MCA Gallery, Denver
Central Park Artists Holiday Market (art fair), Denver
Park Meadows Holiday Market (art fair), Lone Tree
All that glitters is snow (invitational group show), Framed Image Gallery, Denver
PHAC Fall Show (group show), Park Hill Artists, Denver
Poetry in Motion (invitational group show), Artburst Studios, International online show
Paper Quilts (solo show), FlyteCo, Central Park Artists, Denver
Art Students League of Denver Summer Art Market (art fair), Denver
Central Park Artists Invitational (group show), Frame by Frame Gallery, Denver
Blue or Green, You Choose (invitational group show), Framed Image Gallery, Denver
Inside, Outside, Upside Down (invitational group show), Artburst Studios, International online show
2022
ARTMA, Denver Design Center, Morgan Adams Foundation, Denver
The Most Fashionable 5-8 Pop Up, Central Park Artists, Denver
Art Students League of Denver Summer Art Market (art fair), Denver, Colorado
PHAC Spring Show, Park Hill Artists, Denver
Boxing Day, Art Students League of Denver, Denver
2021
Give a little art: A holiday salon, Art Students League of Denver
2019
Encaustic, Art Students League of Denver
Selected Awards/Residencies/Grants:
2024 Artmore Prize Winner, Artma, Morgan Adam’s Foundation, Denver, United States
2024 Auction Selection, Artma, Morgan Adam’s Foundation, Denver, United States
Education/training:
1998-2002: BS in Psychology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC, United States
2002-2004: MPH in Health Behavior, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
2010-2013: MSN Midwifery, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States