January 10, 2018 at 4:15 p.m.
Northern Arts Council awards first emerging artist grant
Northern Arts Council awards first emerging artist grant
By Kayla Thomason-
Samantha Martinez received the $3,000 award in late December. Her submission was selected by the grant committee from the six applications that were received.
"I am still pinching myself about receiving the grant," she said in an interview with the River News.
The Northern Arts Council committee was impressed by her commitment to nature and the environmental aspects of her work.
"The quality of her work was high," said Jaron Childs, vice president of the Northern Arts Council. "We also liked her use of natural materials and environmental concerns."
"The granting committee agrees that the quality of her work, her need for tools and materials, her acceptance to a pottery workshop, and the point she is at in her development as an artist made her the candidate whom we believed would benefit most from these grant funds," the committee said in a press release.
Martinez uses wood, clay, fiber and seeds to "create works that include sculpture, handmade books of poetry, and installation," the release states. "Her work emphasizes natural materials and the environment from which they come."
The grant money will be put toward a $1,000 commissioned wooden karatsu pottery KickWheel, $650 in tuition for Herbster Anagama Wood Fired Kiln Workshop, 1,000 pounds of stoneware and wood fire porcelain clay (a total of $550), $400 for wood for installation of shelves, book materials and tools, seeds for exhibit and eventual Rhinelander Seed Library ($200), an 8.5-by-11-inch pine wood mould and deckle for papermaking ($100), and $100 worth of papermaking fibers, cotton, Abaca, Sisal and flax.
Martinez doesn't have a conventional degree in art. She chose to study foreign language and ethnobotany instead, however ethnobotany plays a role in art.
"(Ethnobotany) is the study of the relationships between humans and plants," she explained. "Sort of like anthropology meets botany. This includes food/seeds, textiles, paper, medicines and much more."
She doesn't have her own pottery wheel and has been going to community settings to use one, traveling long distances.
"There have been so many nights that I have spent dreaming about what I would make, only to write it down or sketch it out instead due to the lack of materials, access to a studio, and finances to get me there and home again," she said. "I think most of us can relate to pining after something that we just don't have the means to support. For me, this is making plant-based papers, making books, making ceramics, and sharing the miracle of seeds."
While in college she took some courses in the arts, and took advantage of a number of unique opportunities to hone her skills.
"In college I worked with a 3D art professor in creating an independent study called Wood Sculpture, which I spent mostly on the lathe exploring the reductive process with wood," she shared. "In other 3D classes, I focused on wood as a material and created a number of different sculptures and objects, getting very comfortable with both electric and hand tools in the wood shop. I also spent a semester in book arts and bookbinding. While living for a year in Tucson, working for a seed conservation non-profit, I belonged to a community of clay artists. This was a wonderful experience, both socially and creatively, and through taking classes and countless hours spent in personal study and special projects, I grew to see the beginning of a personal aesthetic and body of work as it began to take shape."
Martinez has worked with a variety of clay, from commercially-processed to clay dug straight from the ground. Clay directly from the ground is quite interesting to her, with its "raw beauty and accessibility potential," she said.
"I have spoken with and been inspired by potters who work only with clay that they harvest from near where they live," Martinez said. "The idea of producing art directly from the surrounding earth makes me feel ancient and like a kid at the same time."
Martinez said she is both fascinated and inspired by Eastern cultures and the techniques and tools they use when working with clay.
"The pottery wheel that I will be commissioning from an artisan in Minnesota is called a 'karatsu,' a Japanese-style of kick wheel," she explained. "There is so much simplicity in this method. (It's) made of wood, lightweight and very portable, and human-powered. I would eventually like to have a tiny home and studio off-grid, so this wheel will be with me for life."
While in an ethnobotany lab at university, Martinez took a class taught by Northwoods artist, Debra Ketchum Jircik of Circle of Life Studio.
"Since then she has become a friend and mentor to me and I have been working with her to learn the process of harvest papermaking along with a little ecoprinting and ecodyeing," Martinez said. "This past fall she supervised me through the creation of my first edition of cattail papers. I went out and harvested the plant materials, and brought them to her studio where we cooked them, beat them, pulled sheets from the vat, dried them, and now I incorporate them into books and other pieces. I would like to continue learning and making much more with all of the plants that I can."
Martinez has been using her knowledge of these crafts and has been sharing them with others, coordinating and teaching small workshops and classes.
"It's very important for me to share these things with people that might also find joy in them," she said.
For most of 2018 she will be participating in a craft immersion internship at North Folk School in Grand Marais, Minn., a non-profit. While there she will work with most of the materials and resources the grant will provide her.
"I am interested in producing artful and functional forms that provoke thought and add pleasure, depth, and value to everyday experiences," she said. "I am inspired by ancient processes and materials and honoring that in their continuation of use."
She has a list of future projects including building her own set of paper-making tools, creating woodblock prints to incorporate into handmade books and poetry editions, harvesting and processing plant paper fibers, throwing and hand-building ceramic tea bowls and such, wood firings, creating ceramic seed pots, and gathering and organizing seeds to be used in an eventual Rhinelander community Seed Library.
"This grant is going to propel me toward new skills and creations," Martinez said.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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