MARTHA JACKSON JARVIS

Martha Jackson Jarvis' Elsewhere explores polarity and the tension between opposing natural forces - extremes of energy, transformation, and elemental power. This new body of work marks the artist’s deeper engagement with time, and its capacity to accumulate, compress, and leave a trace. The works reflect a growing interest in layered processes and the subtle evidence of forces that act over time.

“While intuition and instinct are present, the work is ultimately driven by an unyielding process—sustained physical engagement, disciplined labor, and ongoing research. I’m especially interested in the act of making itself: movement, the exploration of materials, and their innate properties. The hand becomes a record of action, revealing new possibilities through process and discovery.”

- Martha Jackson Jarvis

Present throughout the exhibition is the mandala motif, a visual cornerstone and anchoring point for much of Jarvis' two-dimensional work. In compositions that are filled with abstraction and erratic, organic forms, the eye of the viewer finds solace and a sense of centering. Historically, mandalas function in various ways, used to focus and direct a spiritual or meditative mindset, trance-like in their geometric design. They act as focal points meant for deep contemplation, and the mandala becomes a place where one finds peace or balance away from the chaotic confines of one's own mind. While the origin and proliferation of the radial form lie in Eastern cultures and religions, Jung made note of the motif's appearance across cultures globally and its importance in the collective unconscious.

“The mandala has become central to my practice. I think of it as a fulcrum—an organizing center where energy gathers and radiates outward. It holds both structure and meaning, offering a space for reflection, balance, and movement. These works continue my exploration of material complexity, while also moving toward a more distilled visual language. The circular, mandala-like forms allow for a reduction that still holds intensity—radiating energy, power, and presence through their simplicity.”

- Martha Jackson Jarvis

"When asked...why she chooses abstraction over representational art, Jackson-Jarvis had a simple response: freedom. She explained that abstraction allows for endless possibilities, innovation, and complexity. It creates a sense of intimacy while maintaining its mystery. She expressed that she seeks to convey the energy of a subject rather than simply replicate it."

- Hannah Sirlin for the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art

MARTHA JACKSON JARVIS (b. 1952) explores form, structure, and scale through a multi-media practice consisting of 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 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art/Philadelphia African American Museum (2023); Spelman College Museum of Art, Atlanta (2011); Smithsonian Institute, Anacostia Museum, Washington, D.C. (1987); the Studio Museum of Harlem, NY (1993); Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C. (1990); 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 Baltimore Museum of Art; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Philadelphia African American Museum; and the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., among others. Public commissions can be found at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Washington, D.C.; the Fannie Mae Corporation, Washington, DC; New York and Washington Metro Transit Authority; the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh; and the Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, among others.

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MARTHA JACKSON JARVIS: Elsewhere

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