Opening Reception and Celebration of life: April 20th 1-4pm
Exhibition Runs April 20th - May 5th
Danielle Martinez: April 22, 1945 - October 10, 2023
The arts community of Bisbee was something very important to Danielle. She became deeply involved after moving here in 1976, first through the Cochise Fine Arts Association, and later through other organizations like the Central School Project, Subway Gallery, and even Cochise College art department where she taught several courses during the late 80s. Danielle was a founding member of the Central School Project in the early 80s and maintained a studio here for many years. In fact, in the early 2000s, Danielle was able to reignite her passion for teaching by initiating a series of grant-funded art lessons for K-3 school children, which she conducted in her studio for over a decade. Additionally, she was a founding member of the Subway Gallery, one of the longest continuously running artists’ cooperatives in the area, and remained a member until her passing.
The subjects of her artwork as well as the media Danielle employed reflect a wide range and variety of interests. Not only was she a talented potter, working in raku, porcelain, and stoneware, but she was also prolific in many other media including watercolor, acrylic, drawing, and occasionally prints. She produced many landscapes, grand vistas, intimate closeups, and the occasional whimsical theme. They ranged from the easily recognizable to almost complete abstraction. She wasn’t afraid to tackle controversial, at times gruesome and brutal subject matter as well, represented by her beheading series as she referred to them, paintings of the beheadings taking place in Iraq during the early 2000s. She also visited erotic subject matter, which we chose to edit here. In contrast to these more challenging themes, she visited the still-life subject often, and especially loved to paint pears. Danielle bought them frequently over the decades, just to pose for her brush rather than to consume them, and when they got a little ripe, she fed them to the deer in the backyard.