Born in Lynchburg, Virginia 1952
Temple University, BFA, 1972
Antioch University, MFA, 1984
Lives and works in Washington, D.C.
MARTHA JACKSON JARVIS (b. 1952) explores form, structure, and scale through a multi-media practice. Growing up in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Philadelphia, now living and working in Washington, D.C., Jarvis’ multifarious practice challenges the viewer to find the extraordinary in our cultural and physical environments. Her works conjure themes of ritual and repetitive action and are made in reverence to the cycles of renewal, degradation, and transformation. The artist’s work functions as an abstracted, emotional response to research concerning her lineage and familial history. Receiving a BFA from Temple University, and an MFA from Antioch University, Jarvis’ work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the United States and abroad, including a recent solo show at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and prior exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; the Studio Museum of Harlem; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, N.Y.; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Tretyakov Gallery Moscow, U.S.S.R. Jarvis has received numerous awards, including a Creative Capital Grant, a Virginia Groot Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the Lila Wallace Arts International Travel Grant. She received the James A Porter Colloquium Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. Her work can be found in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Philadelphia African American Museum, among others.