River House Studio

Marta was born and raised in Olomouc, Czech Republic. After graduating from College she studied Graphic Design at the College of Commercial Art in Brno, Czech Republic. She emigrated to Canada with her family in 1984, and for the next 25 years held a graphic design position in the advertising/publishing field. During the last 14 years she ran her own company specializing in Art Direction of magazines.

Marta has been creating art for over twenty years. At first, it was a peaceful escape from demanding professional work. Now she lives on a centuries old farm near Tweed with her partner and numerous orange cats. Her full focus is on art.

She takes her inspiration from her surroundings. A repeated motif is the Clare River, which meanders through 23 acres of meadows and mixed forest, creating a magical view from the studio where she works. Cracks in the ice which melt during the winter day and freeze overnight create an unreal painting when the sun shines on them. The crazy rush of spring budding is a source of bizarre shapes and colours and late summer brings hay bales which are very attractive to the eye of an artist.

Marta was always attracted by textiles for their texture, colours and ability to react differently to light. Mainly she works with silk — a beautiful and rich textile with subtle textures and an ever-changing appearance — her favourite is Dupioni silk. She creates her textile collages with thin strips of silk which she applies to a background — the whole process is like painting with silk. Each “painting” is designed to take advantage of silk’s chameleon properties; different directions of silk cuts pick up light differently and create an extra, unexpected effect. Her technique, which she developed over the years, is very unique and gives her lots of freedom to focus on detail.

Marta also creates enchanted necklaces and bracelets. In her studio you can also find jewelery created from semi-precious stones, tribal African, Turkoman and Kuchi silver elements and vintage beads.