Marti Reed
Marti Reed is a self-taught visual storyteller who gives voice and freedom to color, texture, and emotion. Deeply attuned to the natural world and the underlying narratives in philosophy, literature, and music, Marti works symbiotically with her media to create abstract forms of expression that viscerally connect viewers to mystical, universal truths.
Born in 1938 in the small border town of Calais, Maine, Marti was raised by a single mother who was widowed when Marti was just two years old. Throughout a childhood marked by poverty and rooted in maternal love, Marti developed a passion for reading. At an early age, she learned that books have the power to open doors, change lives, and always allow a future to which one can look forward. During difficult chapters in her life, they have consistently been her salvation. Particular authors whose works hold deep personal significance and influence her art include Loren Eiseley, Juan Ramon Jimenez ("Platero and I"), Fred Bosworth ("The Last of the Curlews"), and Paul Gallico ("The Snow Goose”).
Married at the age of 18 and widowed at 26, Marti devoted herself to raising her family in Owl’s Head, Maine. For many years, there was little time, and even fewer resources, for creative endeavors. After her three children were grown, Marti acquired The Personal Bookshop in Thomaston, Maine, and for 27 years the bookstore was the primary outlet for her creativity. During that fruitful time, she met a man - an artist - who recognized and fostered her artistic talent. With his encouragement and support, Marti began painting seriously at the age of 68.
A lifelong lover of nature, animals, and the air she breathes, Marti has consistently given voice to these influences in her work. In her early 70s, she began reading essays by the anthropologist and philosopher Loren Eiseley. Those works inspired a series of seven abstract paintings that are now featured on the website of the Loren Eiseley Society in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Later works inspired by musical compositions, include:
“Night on Bald Mountain” inspired by Bob James’s rendition of the jazz composition of the same name by Modest Mussorgsky and “Mysterium” inspired by the instrumental song “Jerusalem” by Stanley Clarke
Marti believes that what touches our souls will always come forth in what we create - be it in our writing, our music, our paintings. Anything that we extract from that shows itself once again. This is what lies at the heart of her work, connections with other forms of natural and creative expression past, present, and yet to be, imbuing her work with timeless relevance.