Martha Brill
From: Bedford, Massachusetts
Email: martha.brill@verizon.net
Website: www.marthabrill.com
Artist's Statement
As a painter and mixed media artist, I am always looking for new ways to nurture and satisfy my drive to create. In addition to painting, drawing, collage, assemblage, photography and poetry videos, I have built a series of small wooden houses and collaged their surfaces. I’ve created branch weavings and refinished old chairs. I’ve made mosaics, mobiles, and baskets. I’ve tried welding and glass blowing. Each experience has provided me with new ways of seeing and thinking and has contributed to my art-making sensibility.
My art has a strong tactile quality with a sense of layers and surfaces. The pieces are effective when viewed from a distance and rewarding when examined closely. In addition to watercolor and acrylic paints, colored pencils, oil pastels, charcoal, ink and graphite, I work with found objects, recycled paper, cardboard, wood, string and wire.
I believe the creative process is ultimately about solving problems. It is about noticing and questioning, thinking and reacting. It involves stepping away and coming back and being open to change and possibility. It is from these practices that my art emerges and my drive to create is nurtured.
When I’m not creating, I enjoy spending time with my family, taking classes, writing, and working on a book of my photography and poetry.
Current Exhibitions
TBA
Recent Exhibitions
New England Collective XII Juried Exhibition
Elements of Creation - Mixed Media
Urban Un-planned - Mixed Media
Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA
August 8 - August 28, 2022
Grace Chapel Art Gallery - Summer Show
The Promise of a Rainbow - Mixed Media
Lexington, MA
June 25 - August 20, 2022
Concord Free Public Library - Solo Exhibition
Art in a Pandemic - 3D Mixed Media, Photography, Collage, Painting, Essay, Video Poem
Concord, MA
February 1-March 17, 2022
Member Exhibition 2021
Drop the Mask - Photo Collage Series
Mosesian Center for the Arts
Watertown, MA
November 2021-January 2022
Newton Art Association: James King Bonnar Show
First Prize for House of Cards - 3D Mixed Media Collage
Wedeman Gallery, Lasell University, Newton, MA
November-December 2021
22nd Annual Roddy Open Competition
Played Out - Video with original poetry
Concord Art, Concord, MA
September-October 2021
Newton Art Association: Emergence - Bring to Light
Burst of Bloom and Sunlit Bouquet - Alcohol ink on tile
Piano Craft Gallery, Boston, MA
March-June 2020
Biennial Community Juried Art Show
Leaded Glass View and Iron and Glass - Photography
Bedford Public Library, Bedford MA
November-December 2019
20th Annual Roddy Open Competition
Video Prize for Capricorn - Video with original poetry
Concord Art, Concord, MA
September 2019
Newton Art Association Annual Awards Show
Second Prize for Echoes of a Dream - Mixed media painting
Newton Free Library, Newton, MA
September 2019
Solo Exhibitions
Art in a Pandemic, Concord Public Library, curated by the artist
Paint and More, Concord Public Library, curated by the artist
Small Group Exhibition
Weightless: Work of Martha Brill, James Varnum and Sharon Witham, Holzwasser Gallery at New Art Center, Newton, MA
-- Space and Place by Martha Brill
Selected Group Exhibitions
Newton Art Association Exhibition, at Wedeman Gallery, Lasell College, Auburndale, MA
Member Exhibition, Mosesian Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA
Botanical, Grace Chapel Art Gallery, Lexington, MA
Wear and Tear, Grace Chapel Art Gallery, Lexington, MA
The Creative Process, New Art Center, Newton MA
Summer Juried Exhibitions, Falmouth Artists Guild, Falmouth, MA
Community Art Shows, Bedford Public Library, Bedford, MA
Regional Art Exhibition, Bedford Arts & Crafts Society, Bedford, MA
Salon Shows, deCordova Museum School Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Re-Made, G Green Design Center, Mashpee, MA
Regional Art Exhibit, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Pawtucket, RI
Selected Reviews
Kathleen Ragsdale. “Paint and More” Concord Journal, May 15, 2014
Bronwen Prosser. “Eccentric Media Exhibited” Falmouth Enterprise, October 19, 2012
Education
Tufts University, BA in English
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Drawing, Design, Calligraphy, Watercolor
DeCordova Museum School, Drawing, Watercolor, Mixed Media Painting, Collage, Printmaking
New Art Center, Mixed Media Painting, Assemblage, Collage, Drawing, Sculpture, Mobile Making, Fused Glass
Concord Art Association, Experimental Drawing, Mixed Media Paper Weaving
Collections
Works held in private collections in Boston and Washington, D.C