Artist Gallery

Abstract Expressionist artist Martha Mottau Reisdorf's childhood home was located on the shores of the Puget Sound with the Olympic Mountain Range as a backdrop. The sun's rise and set were imbued with vibrant and ever-changing colors. The sea, sand and woods surrounding her family home became Martha's playground. A tom boy, Martha soon learned to be creative. She forged trails, built camps and crafted furniture out of broken tree limbs and twigs. From the sands and sea she dug and shaped castles, underground tunnels and cities.

Martha followed a traditional career path until a traumatic event dramatically changed her life. In 1990 she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the removal causing distorted eyesight. As an escape from the tedium of rehab she enrolled in an art class at Pacific Northwst College of Art, eventually graduating. Her skewed eyesight had become a gift, enabling her to virtually see in the abstract.

The creativeness and vivid imagination honed as a child are evident in her compositions. Initially her canvases reflected childhood memories ... vibrant colors, the semblance of land and nature. But something began gnawing at her ... she realized she wanted her work to emanate from within, to not rely on imagery or references to nature. This led to her advent into painting pure abstraction. Unconstrained and in abstract strokes, she allows the paint itself to evoke emotional response, energized movement and innovative, provocative compositions.

« Back to Artist Gallery