MARTHA JACKSON JARVIS

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 ranging from mosaic and paint to earthen, sculptural materials such as stone, copper, and sand. 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. Growing up in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Philadelphia, she now lives and works in Washington, D.C. 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 survey show at the Baltimore Museum of Art (2023), and inclusion in exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (1996); the Studio Museum of Harlem, NY (1993), Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C. (1990), Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C. (1987) and the Tretyakov Gallery Moscow, U.S.S.R. (1991). Work by Jarvis is currently on view in She Speaks at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, Annapolis, MD. 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 National Gallery of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia African American Museum. Public commissions can be found at the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA; the Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, VA; the Fannie Mae Corporation, Washington, DC; and the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, among others.