Monica Martin
Born in Jesolo, Venice (Italy) in 1970. Before settling definitively in Venice, she lived in England, Austria and finally in Florence. Her artistic training developed particularly in the Tuscan capital and in Venice, cities in which she experimented with various expressive techniques by participating in various drawing and painting workshops. In 1997/8 she attended the “free school of the nude” at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. In 1999 she opened Itaca Art Studio and managed the gallery in the heart of Venice for 21 years. In 2001 she followed the ceramic courses of the artist Marina Caldari; from that moment on she became passionate about working with clay, creating ceramic vases, sculptures and jewellery. Since 2001 she has attended traditional and experimental engraving courses held by various masters including Nicola Sene and Riccardo Licata, at the Atelier Aperto in Venice, a group of which he is a member.
She participates in the collective artists’ books “il Libro della Notte”, “METROPOLIS”, published in only three copies, one of which is preserved in the Marciana National Library in Venice, and “The invisible cities of Italo Calvino”; her works are included in “VENEZIA Acqua Pietre e Pagine”, “Gioco del Mosaico Veneziano”, “Gioco del Pesse Novissimo” and “Arte in flat”, published by the International Graphics Center of Venice.
“Muhammad’s cat” and “Story of Solomon and Bilqìs Queen of Sheba” by Giovanni Canova (CIG), “George Sand in Venice” by Luciano Menetto (CIG) and “Gundula” by Marie Malherbe (CIG), “Infinity” by Luigi Golin (CIG), also present one of his works inside.
Among her artist books: “Silenzi” (CIG), “There will always be a sea that will call you”, “Ex Convento dei Santi Cosma e Damiano” and “The yellow flowers of Ca’ Roman” with the poet Luciano Menetto (CIG).
Since 2013 one of her works has been part of the “Artist’s Notebooks” collection, a project by Donato di Poce.
In 2015 she was invited to participate in the 2nd Global Print 2015 and in 2016 in the 8th International Printmaking Biennial in Douro, Portugal.
In 2021, on the occasion of “The Art Network” of Artists for Plants, she created and exhibited the collective installation “un filo per l’ambiente” on the Dune degli Alberoni on the Lido of Venice and inside the cloister of the former Convento SS. Cosma and Damiano, on the Giudecca island in Venice.
The installation “a thread for the environment” is highlighted and the pictorial work “Venezia, Acqua Granda” selected among the works published in the Visual Art section of the Climate ChanCe 2021 competition organized by Shylock Centro Universitario Teatrale di Venezia.
In 2022 she is invited to participate in the International Woodcut Print Biennial in Korea “The 10Th Ulsan International Woodcut Print Art Festival”.
In 2022 her work “Seeds”, a project created for the “Seeds planting Art” call by Artists for Plants, was selected and exhibited at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and at the Svalbard Museum, in Norway.
Since 2023 she has been part of ALI Associazione Liberi Incisori of Bologna.
In April 2024 she received the recognition of “Master Craftsman” from the Veneto Region.
Her Itaca Art Studio atelier is located in Venice, on the island of Giudecca, within the magnificent setting of the former SS Convent. Cosma and Damiano and is part of cArte – Widespread Museum of Paper and Printing in Venice. Monica Martin exhibits in numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad; her works are present in private and public collections around the world, including the Marciana National Library in Venice and the Cà la Ghironda Modern Art Museum in Zola Predosa (BO).
Ithaca
by Konstantinos Kavafis
As you set out for Ithaca
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.