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 As an artist, MerryJoy is known for her multi-media paintings
and small sculptures depicting mystical tribal themes. In the earliest period
of her work she produced themes from fantasy and myth. After meeting a Hopi
storyteller during her college years, she was captivated by Native American
shamanism and the rich multitude of Pueblo Kachinam, historical and
contemporary, which came to dominate her work for many years.
“The
paintings come in my dreams,” she related in a 1998 newspaper interview
(found here), “Not so much as a work of
art hanging on a wall, but as a living, moving presence surrounding
me.”
She believes art comes from the tribal soul, whether it is
Hopi, Pict, Zulu, Celt or Hmong. Since art depictions pre-date written
language, art is “really the language of the soul,” MerryJoy
surmises. “All of us have origins in some ancient tribe and art speaks to
those origins. I want my work to get into your bones where it will leave ghosts
to reawaken forgotten mysteries.”
 Her work
has been exhibited since 1963 when her drawings were included in a bank
exhibition for local artists in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. She was the only child
among several adult artists. Since that time she has had group and solo
exhibitions, beginning with her first major solo show, “Hopi Song: A
Spirit Gathering,” at The Foothills Art Gallery in 1981. She has won
awards at international exhibitions, including several first place and purchase
awards since 1973. Galleries that have represented her work include De Colores
Art Gallery of Cherry Creek, Colorado; Marcus-Hayman, Denver; Gaslight Theatre
& Gallery, Denver; Finishing Touch, Timberline, Otero and others.
MerryJoy's work is represented in collections across the USA, Canada,
and in the UK and France. Her paintings, illustrations,
pixelations, pen-and-ink, and cartoons have been featured on numerous periodical
covers, book covers, and commissioned for CD jewel-case covers and company
brochures and logos, as well as reproduced as wearable art commissioned by two
screen-printing companies, Arctic Heat, Inc., and EarthZone,
Inc.
MerryJoy's
work at SID Gallery, 2014 |
To view examples of
MerryJoy's works, click on the gallery icons below.
For inquiries
contact Cameron &
Associates. All content copyrighted by MaryJoy Martin, a.k.a. MerryJoy.
Please obtain written permission or a contract from the artist or her
representatives before using
images. |
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