Martha L. Swanson served as the Artistic Director of Rocky Neck Art Colony for eight years. She remains an inspiration to us all. We are honored she is sharing this intimate glimpse of her life in art for our first solo exhibit.

I GREW UP in a Finnish-American family and community where arts and crafts were highly regarded. By kindergarten it was determined that I would be an artist.                                                                                                                                                                             

1956-1960

THIS SKETCHBOOK JOURNEY begins at the Museum School in Boston in 1956 and ricochets through the rest of the 20th century. Interruption by work as an art director and graphic designer in the world of publishing accounts for gaps and blank pages in many of these books.

1966

 I SPENT TIME with my mother’s two elderly cousins in a beautiful traditional farmhouse in the north of Finland. Neither spoke a word of English and my own conversational skills were limited so my sketches became a means of communication. I sketched the cows as the cousins milked them in a field. Pointing to the sketch, they added the word ‘lehma’ (cow) to my growing vocabulary. 

IN 1966 A EURAIL Pass transported me to the great museums and grand monuments of Stockholm and Oslo, Munich, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome, Paris, Madrid and finally, London.  Of all places, this 'taste' of Italy prefaced many return trips. The Boston area would be home for the better part of the 70’s and 80’s. 

1972

1986

1987

IN THE EARLY 80’s a unit at the Fenway Studios provided the perfect place to be creative, focused and productive until an opportunity for a hiatus in Santa Fe, NM was too good to pass up. Twenty-two years ensued and included side trips to California, Mexico, explorations of the Southwest’s national parks and the bare bones of the high desert landscape. 

1988

1990-91

1994-1996

2010-to present

IN 2010 I relocated to Cape Ann. Here my focus has been drawing, mark making and a turn to abstraction. Sketching and creating continues.