WOMEN IN THE ARTS
Delita Martin: Calling Down the Spirits
Delita Martin, an illustrator, fine artist and printmaker based in Little Rock, AR, is bringing spirituality and vibrance to everyone’s screen with her online exhibition Delita Martin: Calling Down The Spirits, currently on view on the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ website (https://nmwa.org/).
The pieces included are portraits, by the artist, that use symbolism, pattern and color to depict images of strong individuals connected with their physical space as well as with the spiritual world.
In Martin’s own words: “Throughout the works I have paired portraits with patterns and symbols that show a connection between the waking world and the spirit world. I have used these patterns and symbols to create a visual language that reaches beyond their literal meaning.”
The exhibition, though virtual, is an immersive, interactive experience. As viewers click on each portrait, a voice memo of Martin explaining the work and talking about her process instantly plays.
With each piece, it becomes clearer and clearer that the artist leads every portrait with a bold color, simple lines, sketched-out shadows and rich details. In some, the influence of pop art is evident, while in others, she leans more towards African symbols and patterns.
The repetitive circles in Martin’s illustrations represent the feminine, while the color blue symbolizes spirituality. Both are constants in her early works.
In her 2015 piece Quilted Angel, she incorporates quilting: something very personal to her, that reminds her of her grandmother and of her childhood.
“Although you see stitched figures and silhouettes in my early works, Quilted Angel is the first work in which you see a direct connection to quilting. This is the influence of my grandmother, whom I quilted with as a child. She often referred to her quilting as ‘piecing together.’ During these quilting sessions she would tell me stories of her childhood and stories about our family. I felt that she was piecing together my story and my history into these beautiful worlds. I wanted to be able to tell the stories of the women in my work in the same way, so it was a natural way to bring sewing into my creative practice,” Martin says.
With her layered, multimedia works, Martin says she is able to create a space she calls the “Veilscape,” where her “symbolic language and portraits converge making the invisible visible.”
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but is staying alive by hosting memorable online exhibitions such as Martin’s. Also on view is Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico, an exhibition showcasing renowned photographer Graciela Iturbide’s images of her native country taken over the last 50 years.
