Lydia Martin

Teaching Philosophy

Students are wonderful teachers, mainly because they are so aggressive about getting you to take a stand on something, and then equally aggressive about wanting you to change your mind. I get the students to realize this about one another, and encourage them to exploit this strength creatively. Drawing and painting are first of all crafts with a vocabulary of materials and methods that students learn to utilize. Beyond this, it is a profession that involves constant revaluation of both the artist's personal accomplishments and public context. In order to enable a fuller appreciation of this, I try to nurture an atmosphere of healthy competition in the classroom, wherein students begin to honor their own pace while respecting the achievements of established artists. In practice, my teaching strikes a balance between one-on-one consultations and open critiques. Though courses may differ, these general principles have so far grounded my classroom experience.

Education

• Diploma (MFA Equivalent), Painting and Drawing, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
• Directed Master's Studies in Pastel and Painting, Massachusetts College of Art & Design
• BA, Fine Arts major/Art History minor, West Chester University - Magna Cum Laude

Professional Highlights

• 2020: Publication: 2020 ModPortrait Special Edition Painting Catalog, MEAM Museum, Barcelona and Galería Artelibre, Zaragoza, Spain. Lydia Martin’s portrait painting, “La Bota: The Boot” included in this prestigious juried international publication.
• 2017: On September 18, during the opening ceremony of the Arthur F. Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, a portrait painted by Lydia Martin of UMass English Professor Emeritus and center founder Arthur F. Kinney was unveiled. The portrait was permanently installed in the center's Renaissance Library. 
• 2016: Artist Residency. Lydia Martin was invited to live and work with world-renowned figurative painter Odd Nerdrum at his atelier/home/farm, Memorosa, at Rodvik Gard, Stavern, Norway. During her Norwegian residency, Lydia began a longterm series of paintings depicting figurative landscapes utilizing the limited Earth palette created by the Renaissance Dutch painter Rembrandt Van Rijn and developed into the 20th century by Nerdrum. 
• 2015: "Lydia Martin: Loteria II" Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, MA - Solo Show: Artist's ongoing painting series inspired by the traditional images associated with the Mexican game of fortune, Loteria, a version of bingo which utilizes pictorial cards instead of letters and numbers.  Invited colleague and Suffolk University Alumna, Graphic Designer/Illustrator, Kseniya Galper, to hand create an original sequence of corresponding Loteria cards to serve as gallery labels to each of the paintings. Professor Martin gave a presentation on the Latin American game's cultural history of Loteria as well as on the creative process of her paintings.
• 2014: Recognition: The Art Career Project: "15 Notable Art Professors in Boston 2014" 
• 2013: Awarded 2013 Marion and Jasper Whiting Faculty Fellowship Study Abroad. In summer 2013, lived in Paris to research on circle of artists and designers surrounding Diaghilev's Ballets Russes' premiere performance of Stravinsky's ballet "Rite of Spring" on May 29, 1913. Attended centenary performance at Theatre des Champs Elysses, May 29, 2013.
• 2012: "Loteria" Solo Exhibition at the Chabot Gallery, Providence, RI. First solo exhibition of Artist's "Loteria" series. During the course of the show, Lydia gave demonstrations on oil painting techniques in Contemporary Realism. 
• 2011: Awarded "Outstanding School of Art & Design Faculty of the Year" Suffolk University Student Government Leadership Awards
• 2006: Presentation by Poet, Professor and Painter: Reading, Exhibition and Book Signing, "Remembering the Young Women of Juarez," Suffolk University Poetry Center. Exhibition of Lydia Martin's book cover painting, "The Border," --  Reading of book of poetry “Missing Women of Juarez” by Chilean poet, Marjorie Agosin and lecture by Suffolk Professor of Spanish, Celeste K. Cooperman.  

Professional Affiliations

• Gallery Artist: Sugarlift Gallery, New York, NY
• Gallery Artist: Galería Artelibre, Zaragoza, Spain
• Artist Member, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Arts Club at the National Arts Club, NY
• Artist Member, Lowell Art Association, Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, MA
• Contributing Artist, DeCordova Museum Corporate Art Loan Program

• Member, Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

• Artist Member, The Brooklyn Art Project, NY

Professional Website

Lydia Martin’s Artist’s website