Statetment: I am a visual artist who is primarily focused on mixed media that deals with the curiosity of touch and the way we feel about our feelings. I am particularly curious about contrasting textures and the relationship between soft and hard, smooth and rough, and the space in between these tangible forms and the emotions, or meta-emotions, they evoke. The use of tactile materials suggests the contradictions and compatibilities of attraction and repulsion, fear and desire, and how often they are found in the same space. The idea of a piece begging to be touched while simultaneously screaming “don’t touch me” at top volume is of primary interest. Experimentation is key for me; I learn and grow by doing and making, taking great pleasure in trusting the process of creating without being preoccupied about the end result until I arrive there, often pleasantly surprised. How do we feel about the way we imagine it would feel to touch something? What does it feel like for me as I make it, as I touch it and it touches me?

Bio: Martha Guillorn is a visual artist from New York City focused on mixed media sculptures and drawings with an emphasis on tactility. Guillorn received an MFA in Studio Art from The City College of New York while being the recipient of The Holly T. Popper Art Scholarship, the Seymour Peck Scholarship and Creative Award in the Arts, the Provost’s Prize in Art, and four Therese McCabe Ralston Connor Merit Awards. In 2019 Guillorn participated in the Fantasy Fountain Fund Fellowship in bronze casting at Modern Art Foundry in Queens, NY. Guillorn has received additional awards to assist in making new work, including opportunities to work with glass at Urban Glass in Brooklyn and a fellowship to Anderson Ranch. Guillorn has been an artist in residence at Vermont Studio Center, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Anderson Ranch, and Unison Arts.