| |
|
|
 |
 |
Biography
 My development as a painter has its roots in the plastic arts, in printmaking, and in performance art. I was nurtured by Chicago’s rich cultural scene where good art and great mentors abound. I was tutored by ( and left with lasting impressions of ) such prominent Chicago artists as: Bebe Krimmer, Ed Paschke, Peggy MacNamara, Frieda Hogan and Jim Zanzi.
After attending the Art Institute of Chicago and receiving my BFA from Barat College in LakeForest, Illinois, I concentrated on dance and choreography. I combined these explorations with prop and set design and created gallery installations geared toward performance. My love of form, movement, and meaning is as prevalent in my painting as it is in my choreography. Dance has greatly affected the quality of gesture in my work. This is also why nonobjective/abstract painting is my genre. To me, like choreography, it is a transcendent, pure, and original language — one that is inherently replete with myth and magic. It is the language of the imagination that best describes our deepest reality; that place of profound integration where the “dancer becomes the dance.”
Throughout the 1990s and up to the present, painting and installations have been my major focus. In 1988 I founded my own fine art mural and design company, Neilson-Channer Design, that specializes in unique applications geared toward enhancing both interior and exterior architecture. The Company is currently in it’s 20th year of active service in the commercial design industry. Thankfully, it has given me the opportunity to develop other career artists, to create a following for my work, to work in latex and acrylic, and it has expanded my understanding of composition and color beyond any formal training. Experience is a masterful teacher.
My art is a life-long commitment, which includes my on-going interest in large scale installations as well as creating paintings. My work exhibits an avid interest in color, content, movement, and in producing a unique plasticity of form, and how these elements combine to reflect unconscious perceptions. ( *see artist’s statement ). I have chosen a medium ( latex and acrylic ) that completely suits the development of this visual exploration and I am looking forward to pursuing this for many years to come.
- Martha Channer
|
| |
|
 |
|
