BIOGRAPHY

Elise Martin is an interdisciplinary artist, living and working in Detroit MI, USA. She received her BFA in Fine Arts from The College for Creative Studies in 2012 and her MFA in Fibers from Wayne State University in 2021. Working through a variety of materials and processes, Martin explores the complexities of person-to-person relationships and, moreover, our relationship to objects.

Since 2015, Martin has been a member of Fortress Studios, located in Detroit’ s North End neighborhood. Her work has been exhibited locally and nationally, as well as internationally in Germany and Canada. Her studio practice is complemented by her work in community arts and art education.

https://www.elisemariemartin.com

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a maker of objects, I have become very interested in the power of objects to influence behavior or mediate relationships. In my studio practice I try to create interactive sculptural works that tiptoe the line between passive object and active participant. I have for a long time been interested in the social behaviors that connect us, such as empathy, intimacy, comfort, loss, and anxiety; I try to manifest connections between myself and others through the objects I create. Thinking about my work in this way has led me to many different materials and processes within my studio practice. I often gravitate towards tactile materials that seem to invite interaction and encourage engagement. I am particularly drawn to the familiar domestic art and slow handicraft practices, materials and processes that inherently show a lot of care and attention. I then seek to push those processes beyond the conventional means of production, altering things just enough to create an uncanny experience and subvert the viewer's expectations of how an object should behave.

In my recent bodies of work, I have been considering my personality as an empath/introvert and the pressure that I place on myself to be there for everyone all the time. One way in which I’ve been exploring these themes is through the creation of various self-portrait furniture objects; The idea being that these objects could act as my stand-in, at times when I cannot be physically present for others or don’t have the energy to be emotionally present. I started this series looking primarily at inanimate objects that act as a substitute for human touch, and I have tried to push that concept to encompass other forms of intimacy as well. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when my access to friends, workspaces and familiar places became limited, I began the photo-series, “Let Me Comfort You,” in which I use low-fi props and makeup to transform myself into objects of comfort, exploring how we are all reduced to objects in certain relationshipdynamics.