Martha Horvay

I begin with a fascination with optical pattern and its ability to both imply and deny volume. As I play with snippets of patterned papers, beloved and sometimes ominous subjects appear of their own accord. My everyday environment influences this flow of images more than I like to admit.

 

To offset the regimentation of pattern, I strive for the loose handling of paint. Acrylic is, after all, plastic and I am trying to make plastic seductive, which sometimes seems like a tall order. As I choreograph layers of transparent, translucent and opaque paint, I add surface variation by sanding, scraping and troweling.

 

Collage is my method for gathering ideas. Because they are less time-consuming to create than paintings, the collages give me a sense of freedom that allows ideas to emerge. First, I scan patterns, manipulate them digitally and print them. Next, I cut the patterns, sometimes into tiny fragments, and rearrange them, playing with small pieces of paper until I see a subject or a form that sparks an idea for a composition. Although each collage must stand on its own, a few spark ideas for paintings. Each painting begins as the enlargement of a collage, but it soon goes its own way, as changes in scale and media demand.

 

Nine years of teaching in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s (UNL)  Department of Textiles, Merchandising  and Fashion Design gave rise to pictures of apparel. Now that I am retired, I await my new subject matter with eager curiosity. Will it spring from my interests in edible landscaping, classical piano practice, architecture, or something unpredictable?  

 

Martha Horvay earned a B.S. Degree in Industrial Design from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in printmaking from the University of Louisville, and an MFA from Tyler School of Art at Temple University. She taught art at UNL for 22 years and was a guest lecturer and visiting artist at other institutions of higher education.

 

She is the recipient of the Distinguished Achievment Award and three fellowships from the Nebraska Arts Council and a fellowship from the Mid-America Arts Alliance. In 2013 she received UNL's College Distinguished Teaching Award. Martha has participated in more than 40 shows since 1980 and her work has been collected by numerous public and corporate clients including the Sheldon Museum of Art and the Museum of Nebraska Art.