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Karl Martz (1912-1997)
produced ceramic art from 1934 through
the early 1990's.
He founded the Ceramic Arts Program in the Department of Fine Arts at
Indiana University (Bloomington) in 1945, where he taught studio ceramics
and ceramic history until his retirement in 1977. While on sabbaticals, he
worked in New York City (1952), Kyoto (1963) and Mashiko Japan (1971).
Examples of his work are (or were) in the permanent collections
of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the Museum
of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Lisbon, the
Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York, the Walker Art Center
in Minneapolis, the IBM Corporation, the Minnesota Museum of Art
in St. Paul, the Hall Collection at the University of Nebraska,
and several museums in Indiana including the Indiana University Art
Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Karl published
numerous articles
in Ceramics Monthly, and
was a founding member, President (1965-6),
and Fellow of the
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
(NCECA).
In 1992, Karl was
inducted as a
Fellow of the American Craft Council.
Some of his work has been
auctioned.
Karl's great talent and skill were matched by equally great humility. Those who knew him will remember his quiet, unassuming and down-to-earth manner. Although most of his work was in ceramics, Karl was also a talented illustrator and painter. As a teacher, he encouraged creativity and individuality, and was revered by many later-prominent students. In addition to being highly creative and working in many genres, he was a meticulous and technically-minded craftsman, loving tools and materials possessed of quality and beauty. Becky has observed that Karl enjoyed making tools as much as using them. Throughout his career, he was fascinated by glazes and glaze chemistry, constantly experimenting with glaze tests and often writing about his results. Karl never did high-quantity production pottery, preferring to craft unique, one-of-a-kind studio works. |
Becky Brown (Margaret Rebekah Brown Martz,
1914-2011)
produced ceramic art
from the late 1930s through the early 1980's, and subsequently wrote
poetry.
Her most distinctive works are
whimsical hand-built animal sculptures
that she produced from the
early 1950s
through the mid-1980s.
In 1936, Karl and Becky set up the
Karl Martz Pottery
in Nashville Indiana.
In addition to Karl's one of a kind pieces, he made molds for
small slip-cast pieces attractive to tourists.
Karl trained becky to use the molds and decorate the pieces,
which was the beginning of Becky's apprenticeship in ceramics with Karl.
During the 1950's, she and Karl operated the
Martz Studio in Brown County, Indiana. It was then that Becky developed her own
style of ceramics, very distinct from Karl's.
In the 1940s, Becky studied design with
Alma Eikerman
at Indiana University.
She and Karl traveled extensively, visiting
museums, collections, and potters in their studios in New York, Kyoto, Tokyo,
and Mashiko Japan, Mexico, and Scandanavia.
In 1972, she worked for six weeks in the Daisei family pottery in Mashiko,
Japan. From 1970-1975 she was a partner in The Gallery of Bloomington, Indiana,
founded by
Rosemary Fraser.
From 1985-1991 she was a Docent at the Indiana University Museum of Art.
Becky's work was shown in the first three Biennial Indiana Ceramics Exhibitions at the John Herron Art Museum in Indianapolis (1951-1955), the first five Annual DePauw Ceramics Shows at DePauw University, Greencastle Indiana (1959-1964), and eight other exhibits in Indiana (1959-1981, see her timeline). Her work is (or was) in the collections of numerous Indiana collectors, the Haan Museum of Indiana Art (Lafayette, Indiana) and the Midwest Museum of American Art (Elkhart, Indiana). Her work was carried at The Gallery (Bloomington, Indiana), the Alliance Museum Shop (Indianapolis Museum of Art), Fort Wayne Museum of Art Gift Shop, and the Haynie-Helm Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky. Posthumous exhibits have included her work. Some of her work has been auctioned. |
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Brian, Becky, and
Eric Martz in July 2002.
Painting is of Karl ca. 1938
by
Edwin Fulwider.
Photograph by Brian Martz.