Marni Martin’s tapestry captures the energy of the creative spirit and the light the arts festival brings to the community
By Gillian Brunette
Ring the bellsthat still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack,
a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
The words from this Leonard Cohen song are the inspiration behind a tapestry that will serve as the Huntsville Festival of the Arts image for 2008.
“I drew my inspiration from an intimate and stirring performance by Perla Batalla that I attended last summer during the festival,” said Marni Martin, who produced the tapestry on her studio loom.
“As she sang Leonard Cohen’s song The Anthem, I could feel this sensation of energy moving through the audience that could not be contained. It was as if the roof was being lifted off the theatre and the light was streaming out into the night sky.”
FRUIT OF THE LOOM: Huntsville artisan Marni Martin displays the new 2008 Huntsville Festival of the Arts image, which she created on her studio loom.
From her studio in Huntsville, Martin creates handwoven tapestries and wearable art. Rich hand-dyed colours and sensual fibres are central in the creation of each piece. Whether it is a woven birch limb stretching over a red winter landscape, or light dancing on the hand-dyed yarns, each reflect Martin’s attention to her surrounding environment.
This is evident in much of Martin’s tapestry work, as it embodies the lines and rhythms of the natural world. Martin’s signature tapestries are textural, colourful works maximizing the yarns’ unique attributes when dyed. An undulating surface reflecting light best describes these soft, dimensional works in fibre.
Martin was introduced to fibre art while studying at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. On the advice of an instructor she visited the textile studios and soon discovered that through fibre she could best express herself.
Martin has deep roots in the Huntsville area which stretch back many generations. It was a natural choice to return to the beauty and peace of the area to open a studio, she said.
“The light streaming through the window accompanied by the silence of a peaceful morning punctuated with the blue bird’s song; the pine tree holding steadfast to a rocky outcrop; the lush floor of ferns protected by the towering trees; these moments of discovery evoke in me a sense of wonder that I carry forth into my weaving.”
“I’ve always been a fan of Marni’s work,” said Kareen Burns, festival president. “It was a delight to go out to her studio and see the festival image as a work in progress. Marni working on her loom surrounded by her superb artwork on the walls was for someone who, like me, can’t resist buying beautiful things, a horrendous temptation.”
Over the years the Huntsville Festival of the Arts has used numerous art pieces in a variety of mediums for its graphic.
“The festival appreciates the incredible talent we have in Muskoka and it makes me proud that we promote local eclectic art by selecting a new image for the festival each year,” said Burns.
Martin’s stunning work will be placed on the cover of some 75,000 to 85,000 brochures that are printed and distributed across Muskoka, in Toronto, and to everyone on the festival’s mailing list.
“It was an honour to be asked to create the signature artwork for the 16th season of the Festival of the Arts,” said Martin. “The tapestry that I have woven captures the energy of the creative spirit and the light that the Festival of the Arts brings to our community.”
