Martha Russo ‘85
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Martha Russo ‘85
Tags Visual Artist, Sculptor, Installation Artist, Public Artist, College Educator, Artnauts'Art Collective Member, Artnauts Board President, Board member Scintialla Foundations and BMoCA+ Swoon International Artists Residency Program
Me in 50 words or less: I am a visual artist with my studio practice northwest of Boulder, Colorado. I make sculpture, large-scale installations, and have a number of public arts pieces. I am a 29-year member of an art collective called the Artnauts. We exhibit internationally in places that are healing from challenging events. We have had 298 exhibitions in 26 countries. I am currently the Board President. In addition to my studio practice, I have been teaching at the college level for 35 years. Currently, I am a lecturer at the University of Colorado, Boulder in the Art and Engineering Departments.
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Department: Psychology
Bio
Martha Russo (b. 1962, Milford, Connecticut) earned her Bachelor of Arts in developmental biology and psychology from Princeton University in 1985. In 1984, while vying for a spot on the United States Olympic Field Hockey Team, she suffered a career-ending injury. After recovering, Russo was attracted to the physical nature of sculpture and ceramics. She began studying studio arts in Florence, Italy in 1983 and continued studying ceramics at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. In 1996, she earned her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.
Russo has exhibited her sculptures and installations nationally at venues such as the Allan Stone Gallery in New York City, Denver Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver, Miami Project, and The Santa Fe Art Institute. Her work was the focus of a twenty-five-year survey at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in 2016. Russo’s work is in many private and public collections, including the Denver Art Museum. She is represented by Walker Fine Art, Denver, Colorado.
Another facet to her studio practice is through the socially and politically based art collective, Artnauts, Russo has shown her two-dimensional works in two hundred ninety exhibitions in twenty- six countries. She has been the collective coordinator for the last thirteen years and now serves as president of the newly formed non-profit.
In addition to her studio practice, Russo is a lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to that appointment, Russo taught studio arts at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Denver for eighteen years. She lives in the mountains northwest of Boulder, Colorado with her husband, Joe Ryan and they have two adult children, Odelia and Henry.
Artist Statement
All my work is purposefully obscure.
It is just out of the grasp of language and, thus, brings us back to our rudimentary way of collecting information, namely, through the senses and the body. Although my sculptures and installations are steeped in the ceramics’ process, my practice side steps the traditions of the historic, earth-bound, fragile material. Rather, my works embrace the precarious: they extend into space, hover in mid-air, pile up, and, sometimes, are on the verge of disappearing into dust. The chameleon-like properties of clay and, specifically, its tenuous nature speak to the immediacy, transient, fragility of life. Coupled with this precarious quietness, my massive installations have a palpable energy and force that further connects us to our roots and origins.
I want my works to get into your bones and guts, to touch on the raw, the visceral, the nerves; to murmur up through the body to make a time and place for contemplation and reflection about our basic, biological humanness.
Featured Project(s) and Video(s)
I will be part of an exhibition on Princeton's campus as part of my 45th reunion May 2025. The exhibition is still coming into focus and I will send details when everything is set. I am preparing for 2 exhibitions with my art collective the Artanuts: Adaptation, in Manaus Brazil and DIS(place) in Bogoto Colombia. Amie Know, Denver - based filmmaker, class 1976, is currently making a film about me and 4 other women artists.
Social Media
Website: http://www.martharussostudio.com/
I’d like to share my expertise with:
Alumni
Students
I would like to:
Speak on a panel
Share advice via phone or coffee chat
Let someone shadow me (1 day)
Hire an intern/apprentice (a few weeks/months)
Offer Pro Bono Services