Martha Cole facts for kids

Martha Cole SOM is a Canadian artist who was born in 1946 in Regina, Saskatchewan. She is well-known for her amazing art made with textiles (like fabric), her beautiful landscape art, and her unique artist's books. Her artwork often explores big ideas like how everything in nature is connected, why it's important to live in a way that helps the planet, and how we can protect all the different kinds of plants and animals.

Martha Cole lives in Disley, Saskatchewan. When she was in high school, her art teacher, Helmut Becker, encouraged her to become an artist. She also taught art at the University of Regina for a while. Her art has been shown in many places around the world, including Japan, at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, and in big art shows in the United States. You can find her art in important collections, like those at the Saskatchewan Arts Board and the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

Martha Cole's Art Journey

Early Life and Education

Martha Cole started her art journey by studying sculpture at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1970. After moving back to Canada in 1970, she worked at the University of Toronto. She then went on to get another degree in Art Education from the University of Toronto in 1972. For a time, she taught art to high school students in Toronto.

In 1978, Martha moved back to Saskatchewan and bought an old church building in Disley, Saskatchewan. This move was a big step for her art. She started making her first fabric landscapes that same year, inspired by the beautiful countryside around her new home.

Working with Fabric and Books

For most of her career, Martha Cole has loved working with fabric. She uses traditional crafts like sewing, embroidery, and quilting in her art. Her very first art show featuring her fabric work was in 1984 at the Rosemont Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan.

In the 1980s, Martha also began creating special "artist's books." These are not like regular books; they are artworks themselves, often handmade and unique. Two of her works, Cygnus Spiral Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy (from 1986) and Elemental Blue: Water (from 2003), are part of the collection at the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

Art Inspired by Community

In 2002, Martha Cole was deeply affected when an old grain elevator in Disley was torn down. She realized how important these elevators were to people who grew up on farms and in small towns in Saskatchewan. This feeling inspired her to create an art show called "The Survivors." This show traveled to twenty-nine galleries in rural Saskatchewan between 2005 and 2007. The main images in the show were pictures of grain elevators that were still standing in different towns across the province. During this time, Martha also traveled around Saskatchewan as part of the province's 100th birthday celebrations, showing her quilted artworks and teaching classes.

Martha Cole was also one of four artists who worked together on a big art project called All Beings Confluence. This was a community art project that aimed to connect people and encourage social action. Martha, along with artists Shannon Carson, Madeline Lepage, and Fenella Temmerman, created this exhibition. It was inspired by a song by Carolyn McDade, who is a composer and environmental activist. The project started in 2010 and has been shown in more than 50 places across North America.

Awards and Recognition

Martha Cole has received important awards for her contributions to art and to the province of Saskatchewan. In 2017, she was given the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. This is a very high honor for people who have done great things for the province. In 2019, she received the Lieutenant Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award, which celebrates her long and successful career as an artist.

Exhibitions

Martha Cole's art has been featured in many exhibitions. Here are some of them:

• "All Beings Confluence," a group exhibition with Shannon Carson, Madeline Lepage, and Fenella Temmerman, which started in 2010.
• "The Survivors" Touring Exhibition, which visited twenty-seven places across Saskatchewan from 2005 to 2007.
• "Envisioning the Whole" Exhibition at the McKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, 2005.
• Yokohama Quilt Week Exhibition in Yokohama, Japan, 2005.
• "CanadaScapes" Exhibition at the Laconner Quilt Museum in Washington, USA, 1999.
• "In Context: The Saskatchewan Landscape Exhibition," a two-person show that traveled to Saskatoon, St. John's, Newfoundland, and Winnipeg from 1998 to 1999.
• "Canada, A Cultural Mosaic" Exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1998.
• Commonwealth Conference Exhibition at the Cartwright Gallery in Vancouver, 1987.