A visit to Tory Folliard Gallery provided a chance to meet with Cathy Martin, the artist featured in their current exhibition, "Cathy Martin: All Roads Lead To The Mississippi." Her approximately dozen oil paintings portray verdant green scenes from Wyalusing State Park, a spot close to where Martin lives, about 15 minutes from the Mississippi River. A series on an east wall in Folliard's East Gallery, depicts five barns from Southeastern Wisconsin, a rural landscape surrounding the family's own working farm.
Martin chatted while the visitors admired the hyper realistic paintings that she creates from her own photographs, although Marin changes and rearranges the scenes to suit her own visions, which she indeed lives on a daily basis. For anyone who thinks there's too little time to create and produce fine art, please spend some time with Martin.
Her day begins at 4:30 a.m. when she rises to feed her calves for about an hour. Then she spends several hours painting on her own oils, an especially intense time the last few months while she worked on the new exhibition. Afterwards the artist paints the inside of real houses as an alternate day job. In between fine art and caring for the animals, she cooks meals and washes clothes before the evening calf feeding, and claims if she's lucky, she can sneak an afternoon walk on the property for some relaxation. In the near future Martin's farm will be selling much of their present livestock, cows and pigs, but will continue with a few calves that they raise from birth. The family also grows alfalfa (for feed), corn and beans where Martin proudly says, "she can even drive a combine."
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These facts by themselves create intense inspiration for anyone wishing to pursue their art. Martin also raised four children, now to the point where her last child has graduated from college. and also took a small respite from the farm work when her twin grandchildren were born. Martin happily admits she's never lost a calf, while commenting even her own husband has lost two over a lifetime living on the farm. That's an impressive record for Cathy and her husband, no matter who one speaks to.
This amazing, versatile woman originally graduated in drafting, which she believes accounts for her extreme realistic style, every detail accounted for in luminous colors, with clear blues in the sky overlooking gently rolling hills. Paintings that flow from the radiance in the natural Wisconsin terrain she loves and works in. Sometimes Martin only paints a three by three inch square on her canvas or board in one day, often resulting in repainting and repainting. Then suddenly she explains, she finds the exact right stroke. Talking to Cathy Martin and having her view these finished paintings, is what she explains can be, "like seeing old friends." A statement that perfectly describes meeting the artist in person, and then admiring Martin's paintings in the gallery.
Cathy Martin's exhibition continues at Tory Folliard Gallery until April 14. Or visit the website, www.toryfolliard.com for visual images.
