Martha Kelly was preparing to start on a series of linoleum block prints at the beginning of 2020. As the world shut down and normalcy retreated, many were left unmoored from their safe harbors of schedules and social norms. Kelly and her muse – her eighty-pound boxer, Mr. Darcy – found their “new normal” in the forests, around the waterways, and through the legacy of Walter Anderson.

Kelly, like Anderson, creates her work from specific places that inspire her. A forest near her house in Tennessee, the expansive waterscapes of the Northwest, and the undulating shoreline of the Gulf Coast all assert themselves in her work. These elements have imprinted themselves onto the artist’s mind, and the artist has in turn printed them in ink for the viewer. 

The works displayed here serve as reflections, or imprints, of time spent in nature where Kelly found rest from the tumult of the modern world. The images possess a quiet, peaceful quality which draws the viewer into a particular moment. Yet, these glimpses into Kelly’s world are not stationary. Rather, they are electric in their depictions, as though the living landscape has but paused momentarily, allowing itself to be captured by the artist. Kelly states that through the process of creating these works she is able to mentally escape to these sacred places, finding solace amongst the trees.