My PRACTICE

My practice includes sculpture made from found metal objects, printmaking, digital art, painting and drawing. My source inspiration comes from the use of recycled metal (my sculptures), images of earth from space (my digital work inspired by working eight years in the USA for NASA in the Scientific Visualisation Studio), and a continuing multi-disciplinary approach which seeks to combine diverse media (printmaking). 

The main inspiration for my work comes from machines, tools and found objects.  The relationship between organic forms and the machines we create to fill our needs is of particular interest to me. In the creative process, I reinvent the elements we have put of ourselves into our tools and machines in such a way that they no longer serve their intended function. They become new forms that are unique and at the same time refer back to their origins.

My work as a printmaker continues the sculptural technique of assemblage. I photograph my sculptures, scan and digitally alter them. The next step is either hand drawn or computer-generated colour separations in preparation for hand printing serigraphs. Some of these prints are further worked with paint, lead and pastels.

In discovering the computer as a tool I had at my disposal a workshop with unlimited potential. Unlike sculpture where each found object is generally one of a kind, the computer enables the artist to have at their disposal as many pieces as one wants. I was able to deconstruct what I had built and reinvent the sculptures in many different ways. In a way it could be described as 'digital welding'. The process comes full circle when I handprint the computer-generated images.

Career History

For the past twenty-five years, Marte has exhibited her artwork in numerous galleries and museums throughout the USA and more recently in Melbourne. She is master printer in screenprinting and has taught etching, bookmaking, and digital art and design at Georgetown University, George Washington University and the Corcoran College of Art and Design. In addition she worked for NASA as a digital artist and animator. Her digital work for NASA has been published in scientific and design magazines, and broadcast on television on a regular basis throughout the USA and internationally.