Martha Jane Ritchie | Understories
Martha Jane Ritchie
Understories
FOCUS GALLERY, FEBRUARY 3 - 25, 2023
There is always more than meets the eye. Everything has a story.
When something has been discarded, I imagine all of the experiences that it might have had in its lifetime and see all the wonderful new potential that it has as well.
As I walk through the forest around my home I am drawn to the weathered and the worn, the moss and the lichen, and the naturally sculpted. I look for signs of life stories in the boreal forest, real or imagined.
In ‘Understories’ repurposed clothing, relief printing, sewing and a variety of other mediums tell the tales of the magical and ever-changing natural world that surrounds our home in the Yukon.
MARTHA JANE RITCHIE
Martha Jane Ritchie is an Artist and Printmaker who lives in Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, Canada with her husband and two sons.
While attending Emily Carr College of Art, Martha majored in printmaking and discovered Linocuts. She graduated with honours and continued working in the medium for the next 30 years. Martha’s work has always reflected the environment in which she is living at the time.
Early on she created a series of pieces based on life on her parents’ cattle ranch in Upper Hat Creek, B.C. While living in Ontario her large prints depicted the different areas of Toronto that she liked to visit, such as Kensington Market. In Vancouver her work illustrated the grittier side of life while she lived and worked in the Downtown Eastside.
In 1994, Martha and her husband Mark moved to the small northern town of Haines Junction. After a short break to raise their two sons, she resumed her artistic career. Her current work is drawn from the natural environment that surrounds their home on the edge of the wilderness.
Situated 160 kilometres west of Whitehorse, Haines Junction is nestled under the Saint Elias Mountain Range and beside Kluane National Park. The community is small (roughly 850 people) and the residents live closely connected to nature and the outdoors.
The beauty of this environment, vast sky views, massive mountains, plentiful and healthy wildlife populations and the ever changing light and colours are impossible to ignore and create an unending supply of ideas and inspiration for Martha’s prints.
Past Exhibitions
