Work — Martha McDaniel

Collage & Paint

My collages are 3-dimensional constructions of mixed media that often include wood, paint, photographs, printed materials, and found objects. I work from a variety of sensual stimuli. Most pieces are related to written works either by me or others, some refer to dreams, visions, passions, history, outrage, humankind, and or relationships. Some are meticulously planned, others less so, and I always allow for whimsy, accident, and experimentation.

The Window Heard and Understood

This piece explores the effects of the isolation, containment, and restrictions of movement that we are experiencing from the 2020 pandemic. As individuals and as social beings we are constricted from fully connecting with our communities. This loss of connection results in grief, sometimes profoundly so, for many – especially the very old and the young.

Thanks

I created this piece as a “thank you” gift for my MLA advisor upon completion of my degree. Birds, sun, water, and life’s journey through time were inspirations.

Temperature Rising

Sea Sense, A Visual Interpretation

In early summer 2017, I spent two consecutive weekends in Monterey CA. With kindred spirits I walked the dunes, listened to the ocean, felt and smelled the salty air, and observed the rhythms and dramas of the shoreline. These experiences stirred a deep longing for the sea and it’s eternal power. From there I wrote the poem "Sea Sense" that this collage interprets.

Thirteen Perspectives on a Blackbird

This is my visual interpretation of the poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens. In the poem, Stevens sensually paints vivid verbal picture of how we ultimately exist within a multiplicity of realities through time and space. My collage and accompanying essay explore this verbal-visual connection and appear in the Summer 2017 issue of Tangents, The Journal of the Master of Liberal Arts Program at Stanford University.

West Flow

I created this piece as an entry to a call for cover art for Western Tributaries, "an interdisciplinary journal hosted by the West Coast Graduate Liberal Studies programs," and published by Simon Frazier University. West Flow was chosen as the cover art for Volume 2 (2015) of Western Tributaries. I aimed to reflect the flow of ideas and physical elements that shift over time to form the bases of world civilizations. See <http://journals.sfu.ca/wt/index.php/westerntributaries/issue/view/2>.

Viva Famiglia

In honor of shared lives. Joy and verve bubble forth from the interconnections and individual pursuits of my household.

Hatch

Birds give us a very concentrated glimpse into the phenomenal cycle of life from conception to birth, or hatching, to full interaction with the physical world, as it has been happening for millions of years.

Sea Mama

Mind Bird

Water Garden

Origins

Fish Time

Flower in Pink Sky

Flying

Sidewalks

While walking in suburban and urban neighborhoods we can glimpse small compositions of beauty in the chance arrangement of debris and detritus that accumulates on the manufactured sidewalks, roads and constructions that traverse our environments.

Sidewalk 2

Sidewalk 1

Sidewalk 3

Sidewalk 4

Sidewalk 5

Sidewalk 6

Sidewalk 7

Sidewalk 8

Sidewalk 9

Sidewalk 10

Sidewalk 15

Sidewalk 25

Sidewalk 29

Sidewalk 30

Sidewalk 32

Sidewalk 40

Sidewalk 45

Sidewalk 52

Sidewalk 58

Sidewalk 64

Plants

Plants are amazingly diverse in their growth, propagation, and survival. Their patterns never cease to thrill me.

Stanford AZ Garden 2017.3

Stanford AZ Garden 2017.2

Flower 1

Stanford AZ Garden 2016.1

Stanford AZ Garden 2016.2

Jasper Ridge 2016.1

Año Nuevo 2016.1

Año Nuevo 2016.3

Año Nuevo 2016.2

Año Nuevo 2016.4

Año Nuevo 2016.5

Sky

The sky provides layers upon layers of wonder and opportunities to wander in mind and body. We can look at it's reflections, shadows, look at it and through it. Cloud formations in particular give us a changing palette of color, pattern, and sensation. In combination with the earth, sun, moon, wind, precipitation, and other elements we have a perpetual living canvas above our heads in a surround sense environment. That this canvas has an infinite universe beyond it is mind-blowing.

Fire Stained Glory

Waves and Palm

CA Coast 2013.1

Solar Eclipse 21 August 2017

Recorded in San Carlos CA from 10:08 AM to 11:00 AM PDT.

Solar Eclipse 20 May 2012

Coast

Where land and sea meet so does the mind with peace.

Mendocino Shore Mud

Año Nuevo Humpback 2016.1

Orkney Rocks 1

Orkney Rocks 2

Orkney Voyage

Alcatraz

My husband Ed's great grandfather James A. Johnston was Warden of Alcatraz from 1936 to 1948 (it is now a National Park site). As a child, Ed's mother went to the facility many times to visit her grandparents. When touring the park with Ed and our daughter, I get a hauntingly eerie sense of my family's history.

Alcatraz 8

Alcatraz 9

Alcatraz 19

Alcatraz 32

Alcatraz 27

Alcatraz 34

Alcatraz 43

Alcatraz 44

Alcatraz 45

Alcatraz 46

Alcatraz 40

Alcatraz 31

Alcatraz 5

Alcatraz 7

Alcatraz 1

Alcatraz 47

Alcatraz 37

Alcatraz 20

Alcatraz 24

Drawing

Happy New Year 2006

Subject Space

This series began with the question: How do boundaries limit human beings physically and psychologically? I explored the diversities and similarities of limits by placing human subjects, all women, in each of several pre-determined spaces within my home. Spaces were determined for photographic composition, the subjects’ exposure to various domestic prompts, and ease of camera placement. Each subject was interviewed and photographed on a separate day. My process consisted of six steps.

One – Choosing subjects and spaces. Out of six identified spaces, I chose four for this series: bathroom, living area, dining area, and kitchen. From seven potential subjects, I selected four women: Lois, Bernardette, Rosanne, and Helen.

Two – Setting up the scene. I set up each space by hanging blank trapezoidal sheet of paper within my camera viewfinder. Each paper was trimmed to appear rectangular within the scene.

Three – Subject reactions to the spaces. I placed each subject within each of the spaces and asked her a series of questions concerning the space she was currently in (see questions below). I allowed her to sit where she wanted or otherwise interact with the space as she chose – within my camera frame. I recorded her responses.

Four – Photographing the subjects. I took portraits of each subject physically in each space, before, during, and after the interview. I selected a photograph for each subject / space event that best fit my impression of the event.

Five – My response. On a separate sheet of paper, the same size as each space’s blank trapezoidal sheet, I drew my response to the portrait and interview responses of each subject. I incorporated elements of the actual space in some cases.

Six – Photographing the drawn response. I finally hung the drawn responses where the original blank sheets had been hung and photographed. I photographed the drawings at approximately the same time of day and under similar outside light conditions as for the portraits. The photographs of the drawings were then printed next to the original corresponding portraits of each subject. And are presented on the following pages along with the interview responses.

In addition to vast differences in individual human interiors and perceptions, variations in their response may have also been influenced by time of day, light, weather, and temperature; I did not record these variations.

Interview questions:

1 Does this space feel limiting to you?

2 Why or why not?

3 What aspect(s) is or are most limiting?

4 What other emotions or feelings does this space evoke from you?

Subject Space S7 Sp4

Helen, Corner Window near Dining Area

"The space is not limiting. It’s open enough and I can move if I need to or if I want to. I like window seats. I have a sort of connection with the outdoors that other areas don’t give you. It’s restful, simply because of the awareness to the outdoors and to nature. You can hear the birds. If you were sitting over there you probably couldn’t hear them as well."

Subject Space S2 Sp6

Lois, Side Wall in Kitchen

"The space is not limiting, because there is a view of the whole house. I can watch everything. The screen is not separating me from anything. The shelves overhead don’t bother me because they aren’t in view. I'm just very comfortable. I feel like I could sit here a long time. I feel like drawing a picture on the screen. The other screens were affecting me, but I feel like I want to do something with this one. It seems more friendly, unthreatening, benign."

Subject Space S5 sp4

Rosanne, Corner Window near Dining Area

"This space is very limiting. The colors are very definite and draw angular lines. I’m nude and feel vulnerable. Travel is on my mind a lot, and I’m resting my feet on this chest from China which makes me feel that way. I feel very exposed, that’s why I’m talking so much."

Early Photographic Series

My early photographic work often took the form of black and white, serial photographic stories. I worked with both 35 mm and 2.25" formats, and developed my own film and images. These pieces are dated between 1976 and 1980.

More images coming soon...

Grass Rope Series, 4 of 8