Taos Textures, 37 x 49" framed
Enchanted Textures
New Works by Martha Mans
Who: Martha Mans
What: Exhibition of paintings
When: July 20, 2018 – August 2, 2018
Artist’s Reception: Friday, July 20, 5-7 pm Where: Owen Contemporary, 225 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501
SANTA FE, NM Owen Contemporary is delighted to announce Enchanted Textures, a solo exhibition featuring new oil paintings by landscape painter Martha Mans.
When asked to speak about the artwork for her upcoming exhibition Martha Mans shared these thoughts. “As you can see from my work I am fixated on textures. This is more apparent in my newer paintings. My thoughts when I am painting are about the naturally textured land of New Mexico. I translate those impressions into patterned surfaces when I apply the paint with my brush and palette knife. It is important for me to paint with a more primitive energy by using large expressive brush strokes. Through this energy, the rhythms of the land begin to emerge and create the quiet voices that speak to me as I paint.”
“New Mexico is a land of earthy colors and textures. Rocks, dirt, twiggy plants, reds and ochres against blue grays, dry, wet, cold, hot, mostly hard and rough create a movement in visual and tactile rhythms that surround me. There are times when I am standing in the New Mexico landscape on a warm day when I want to lay down and embrace it. I can’t help but be madly in love with the textures of everything around me. I am drawn to the irresistible forces that seem to bring me closer to the earth. The more I experience these textural qualities of the land, the more I am compelled to use them to express what I want to say. “
Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Martha Mans received her degree in art and art education at Carlow University. She continued her art studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of Southern California. Upon moving to Colorado she became a master instructor for a branch of the Art Students League in Colorado Springs and also began privately teaching art classes in her studio.