Artist Statement:
I converse with our built environment through visualizations of the cycles of life to address temporal, social and environmental issues of our delicate ecology. I utilize this methodology to filter, transmit, capture, and commemorate the intangible qualities of the passing of time with playful representations of the relationships between humans and the environment in which they are situated.
I create drawings in two, three and four dimensions, slivers of life, CiTy-Scans and cross sections across time, through culture and the physical spaces that contain life. The work I’ve created is as much a reinterpretation of drawing, in which architectural conventions are rethought, as much as an examination of humanity. Installations and participatory documents come to life through collective participation. My work, which I prefer to refer to as “play”, is created through connection and exchange. As spaces, performances, experiments and community projects, in playful ways they address, highlight, subvert, societal and environmental issues that need transforming. The process by which they emerge is a celebration of life.
My life is a drawing, I am the drawing, the drawing is my process.
Biography:
Martha Skinner is an international multi-media and interdisciplinary artist with a Masters in Architecture and Urban Culture. Her career as an artist, researcher, professor and visionary spans 30 years.
Martha’s work has been recognized by various awards and internationally-recognized publications and exhibitions.
Highlights of Martha’s career include:
- 1999 Walter B. Sanders Fellow at the University of Michigan
- Creator of Notation A/V, a seminar about the merging of drawing and moving image and creator of CiTy- SCAN, The City as Bodies in Movement (body of research), and 10^10, The Exponential Power of Design
- TEDx speaker (2015): The Exponential Power of Design
- Creator of several Living Maps of cities which include NY A/V, a moving document and installation on Broadway Street (acquired by the NY Historical Society as the first document of it’s kind), and featured in the book “Installations by Architects” and as part of an international travel exhibition. Also received Best of Category Award from Concept Category of ID Magazine.
- Professor at Clemson University (2001-2014) and founding partner at FieldOffice (1997- 2010)
- Exhibitor at 10th Venice Biennale, 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Black Mountain College Museum, Asheville Art Museum, {Re}Happening and NFT Liverpool
- Five awards from I.D. Magazine, and a Next Generation Award from Metropolis Magazine
- Receipt of a People, Prosperity and the Planet Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Recipient of the Abraham E. Kazan Fund Prize for Urban Design Studies from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art where she was one of two transfer students admitted and where she completed a Bachelor of Architecture in 1995.
- 2nd prize – Sun Shelter Competition by The Van Alen Institute, and The Hudson River Park Conservancy
Words on my work:
“Martha has an unwavering aesthetic vision and is a kaleidoscope of ideas. She Combines her architectural design, and cartographic talents with a warm sense of purpose about human interaction and inclusivity.”
–Diana Stoll, writer, editor and curator Museum of Modern Art, Aperture, J. Paul Getty Museum, Black Mountain College + Arts Center, Asheville Art Museum …
“Her empathetic artistry speaks fluently to the experiences of marginalized communities. Her background in architecture informs her work with a sense of depth and possibility, allowing her to reimagine spaces and stories that transcend traditional boundaries. In her I see the same boundless spirit and transformative power embodied by artists like Yayoi Kusama. Martha is not just an artist; she is a cultural beacon. She envisions a community where art catalyzes recovery, inspires resilience, and empowers people to dream.”
–Cassidy Herrington Santader, culture reporter: Blue Ridge Public Radio, National Public Radio Indiana and Illinois. Recipient of 2015 national Edward R. Murrow Award
“One of a host of Calvino and Borges fueled mapping projects, but what’s remarkable about this one is that it was actually produced.” NY A/V
– Lindy Roy, architect, lecturer and professor: Princeton, Harvard, Cooper Union, Rice and Columbia. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NY and SF and The Art Institute in Chicago.
To learn about my trajectory visit:
Living Section Retrospective of my Fertility
Research Blogs:
Urban CT-scan – The City as Body(ies) in Movement BLOG
