Martha Ressler
Studio Art Quilts
Martha Ressler’s stitched collages–which sometimes include found objects and papers along with fabrics–often echo the artist’s feeling that, “Here is this place, where I saw, breathed and absorbed the atmosphere. Here are some artifacts from other people who share my time on earth.”
Those senses of time and place come through with depth and richness that many painters aspire to achieve with considerably more fluid media. Her passion for the colors and textures of fabrics, and the rare talent to bring fragments of them together into award-winning art, is a thread that goes back many years.
She learned to sew at the age of 13. By high school, she was making all of her own clothing, including her prom dress and Easter coat. Later, she was drawn to art, and began painting plein air and industrial subjects.
It wasn’t long until Martha's painterly pursuits intertwined with her love for fabric.
“I was a painter first, but the fiberarts drew me into its orbit because of the possibilities for layering and texture,” she explains. “I continue to be drawn to specific places as subjects. First comes a tug of interest in light, shadow, or shape. Once I am hooked on a subject I tend to work quickly, combining fabrics, found objects and a combination of machine free motion stitching and hand stitching. At the end I slow down and finish meditatively with hand stitching and evaluation..”
Her passion is appreciated by art experts and collectors alike. One of her pieces is featured in the book, “1000 Quilt Inspirations.” Many of her works have been spotlighted in juried competitions and winners’ circles, and she is frequently commissioned to create studio art quilts around a specific person, place or theme.
