Formerly the Ontario Crafts Council, Craft Ontario is a not-for-profit service organization that works to have craft recognized as a valuable part of life. We promote and celebrate professional craft through providing member opportunities, and advocate for craft practice by educating and empowering diverse audiences.
Judith Martin holds a first class honours BA degree in Embroidered Textiles from Middlesex University in the UK and maintains a popular blog, Judy’s Journal. With 27 solo exhibitions in Canada and participation in over 100 group shows internationally, including Quilt National and Visions, Judith e Martin is an advocate for the power and beauty of hand stitch. She is a lifelong resident of northern Ontario, and along with her husband lives on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron.
Martin’s work is grounded in the phenomenological idea that the sense of touch is the most effective way to make an emotional connection with others and she covers her surfaces with handmade marks. The tactile repetitions of her hand’s caress, the strength and weight of miles of thread and the amount of time it takes to make the individual stitches are a collective and direct communication with our inner world.
Naata Cloth
Linen, silk, cotton threads, appliqué, embroidery
Cloud of Time
Cotton canvas, found fabrics, cotton floss, couching
Cloud of Time (detail)
Cotton canvas, found fabrics, cotton floss, couching
Yin Yin (side a)
Linen, silk velvet, plant dye, procion dye, button thread, reverse appliqué, hand quilting
Yin Yin (side b)
Silk/wool gauze, silk velvet, button thread, reverse appliqué, hand quilting
Not To Know But To Go On
Cotton canvas, found fabrics, cotton embroidery floss, couching
Not To Know But To Go On (detail)
Cotton canvas, found fabrics, cotton embroidery floss, couching
Mended World
Re-purposed linen damask, silk, cotton, cotton and linen threads, hand pieced, hand quilted. Made with community assistance
Mended World (detail)
Re-purposed linen damask, silk, cotton, cotton and linen threads, hand pieced, hand quilted. Made with community assistance
Paradise Meditation I
Linen damask, cotton, acrylic paint, cotton thread, watercolour paper
Formerly the Ontario Crafts Council, Craft Ontario is a not-for-profit service organization that works to have craft recognized as a valuable part of life. We promote and celebrate professional craft through providing member opportunities, and advocate for craft practice by educating and empowering diverse audiences.