BIOGRAPHY AND STATEMENT

Transcription

1 BIOGRAPHY AND STATEMENT Martha Sturdy, In Her Own Words It s hard to escape the mass production and machine-made precision that surrounds us but we believe that there is a level of humanity and inherent beauty to something that is hand made. We find luxurious comfort in artisanal bread, bespoke clothes and handmade boots. Everything we create is poured, sanded, tinted and finished by hand by artist who have honed their skills under Martha s tutelage for years many of them even decades. Martha has always been enthralled with the scale of nature on the West Coast. Never delicate, but always pared down, her work finds a balance in its weightiness and a resolve in its proportion. Each piece is an investment, in aesthetic and function. At Sturdy we release pieces that will be passed down the generations. Our work is created by hand and engenders a sense of confidence in those who are close to it. Martha and her work are always engaged in a conversation of scale. In 1978, with the limited resources of a young art school graduate, she was forced to adapt the proportions of her work. Her yen to create large pieces could not yet be fulfilled and so began working in a scale accessible to her creating uncommonly large, wearable maquettes. Sturdy went on to gain an international reputation as a leader in functional art and design. Her bold, iconic wearable sculpture was featured in ELLE, Vogue, and Harper s Bazaar. As Martha s creativity evolved her collection developed to a series of sculptural home furnishings using resin, steel, brass and salvaged cedar. The STURDY studio has since expanded to provide sophisticated, enduring custom furniture and fixtures for upscale retail and hospitality clients including, Louis Vuitton, Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Four Seasons, and Fairmont. Quality, integrity of design, and balance are signature elements of a STURDY piece, each individually made to be enjoyed, touched, used, and seen for years. Because as Martha has taught us, creativity and beauty should be evident in everything we do. A wellarticulated space supports peace of mind, and peace in general.

2 CURRICULUM VITAE 2006 Honorary Doctor of Letters degree at the Emily Carr Institute BC Creative Achievement Awards of Distinction 2005 inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) 2002 Golden Jubilee Medal, Governor General of Canada UNI.CA names Martha Sturdy as one of the top 135 people in Canada 2001 March issue, Metropolitan Home Magazine, named one of the top 20 designers/artists to watch for in the next decade 2000 Emily Award, awarded by the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design to outstanding alumni members 1999 Best Contemporary Designer, Decorex International, London, England 1998 Best New Product Award Bath, America s Premiere Bed, Bath & Linen Show, New York Home Textiles Show West Vancouver 75 Achievers Awards, Vancouver, BC 1987 Entrepreneurial Award, City of Vancouver 1978 Major in Sculpture, Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, Vancouver, Canada Press Style at Home 1998 Italian, French & English Vogue Vancouver Magazine 1999 Toronto Life Fashion 1999 Metropolitan Home 2000 Elle Décor Metropolitan Home 2002 NBRS, AudioVision Canada (AVC) 2002 Harper s Bazaar RM Fieldbook 2003 Architectural Digest 2003 Gardening Life 2003 Canadian House and Home 2004 Scarlet 2004 Perspective 2005 House and Garden 2006 National Post Interview with Linda Reeves, 2007 Architectural Digest 2009 Architectural Digest 2011 Architectural Digest 2012 Wall Street Journal 2013 House and Home 2014 House and Home 2015

3 AVAILABLE WORKS Breaking x 30" (76.2 x 76.2 cm) Mixed Media (HH045659; PL CODE MS3)

4 Break Up x 41" ( x cm) Mixed Media (HH045661; PL CODE MS3)

5 Break Up x 41" ( x cm) Mixed Media (HH045662; PL CODE MS3)

6 Breaking x 54" ( x ) Mixed Media (HH045820; PL CODE MS3)

7 #412 Triptych Break-up I 48 x 31.5" ( x cm) Mixed Media (HH046511; PL CODE MS3)

8 Undulating x 35 x 14 (152.4 X 88.9 X cm) Solid Brass Sculpture (HH043408; PL CODE MS3)

9 Drag 424 Diptych 41 x 82 ( x cm) Resin in Steel Framed Misc. Art (HH046135; PL CODE MS3)

10 Reflections x 53" ( x cm) Framed Misc. Art (HH046134; PL CODE MS3)