Artist Statement

Chris Martin

Over that past twenty-five plus years, I have gone from one inspiration to another, Japanese aesthetics to children’s’ toys and Czech Cubism, to what now drives me; African and Indian cultures. But there are two threads that run through most all of my work, a reverence for the natural world with a recognition that I need to do my part to take care of it, and the industrial environment that I grew up in. I recognize that these are seemingly disparate things and how seemingly odd it is to be inspired by opposites. I grew up in Keokuk, Iowa, an industrial river town once full of smoke belching factories, meandering train tracks, and a lock and dam that never ceases to amaze me. Keokuk sits at the point where the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers meet, surrounded by tree-covered bluffs. The beauty of this natural environment rivals any place in the country. In the summers, if I was not wandering the woods around town, I was swimming or sailing on the Mississippi or working my summer job at the corn processing plant. Today, Keokuk is suffering the fate of so many other river towns, people moving out in search of better things and the slow decay of the factories and once grand houses as nature takes them back. I have always been awed by the resiliency of Mother Nature and how she manages to take back what we try to claim in the name of progress. The manmade in unity with or in contrast to the natural world.

My design process begins with grasping one of the ideas that are always floating around my mind. Most often, I begin by putting these ideas on paper, moving from loose sketches to drawings that are more refined, though sometimes I am driven to go straight to production, bypassing the sketching stage.  When I commit to the project, I typically produce full-scale working drawings, allowing me to consider joinery, proportions, and structural issues. Once this design has taken form on paper, I chart out the production process, always leaving openings for serendipity and opportunity to explore avenues that may not have been visible in the original vision. With this way of working, I really need to sustain my confidence, trusting my instincts as I move through the production process. The final product is certainly satisfying, but making is what drives me.

Process and material exploration are at the core of what drives my making. I am repeatedly fascinated with the manipulation of material, whether it be wood, steel or even cast rubber. In my early work, I was inspired by the manipulation of hot steel or laying silver leaf, or texturing wood with a chainsaw. Today it is exploring the possibilities of CNC technologies or molding carbon fiber. Whether I am using CNC technologies or simply sanding out a beautiful piece of wood, I like to leave something behind that shows that the piece was handmade. More than just a signature, I like to leave the rasp marks behind that are the visual signs of process. I like that these marks help to tell the story of the piece’s process and give clues about the maker. I hope these “fingerprints” allow the viewer/participant a richer connection with the work.