About Me
Martha Jackson Jarvis has undertaken public and corporate art commissions for the Philip Morris corporation in Washington, D.C.; Merck Company in Pennsylvania; Fannie Mae in Washington, D.C. Washington Metro Transit Authority, Anacostia Station; and the New York Transit Authority, Mount Vernon.
Martha Jackson Jarvis
Martha Jackson Jarvis’ sculptures have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the United States and abroad, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; the Studio Museum of Harlem, N.Y. Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island, N.Y.; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Tretyakov Gallery Moscow, U.S.S.R. Her numerous awards include a Creative Capital Grant, Virginia Groot Fellowship, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, The Penny McCall Foundation Grant, the Lila Wallace Arts International Travel Grant, and recipient 2023 James A. Porter Colloquium Lifetime Achievement Award, Howard University.
Born in 1952, Martha Jackson Jarvis grew up in Lynchburg, Virginia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and currently lives and works in Washington, D.C. She studied at Howard University and received a BFA degree from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University and a MFA from Antioch University. Jackson Jarvis also studied mosaic techniques and stone cutting in Ravenna, Italy.
Jackson Jarvis has undertaken public and corporate art commissions for the Philip Morris corporation in Washington, D.C.; Merck Company in Pennsylvania; Fannie Mae in Washington, D.C. Washington Metro Transit Authority, Anacostia Station; New York Transit Authority, Mount Vernon; South Carolina Botanical Gardens in Clemson; Prince George’s County Courthouse in Upper Marlboro, Md.; Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C.; and MS/HS 368 Bronx, New York.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2023
What the Trees Have Seen, 2023 – (Solo Exhibition) Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
2013
A. M. Weaver, “Martha Jackson Jarvis”, Art in America,
(January 2013)
2012
Julie L. McGee, “University of Delaware Museum,
Mechanical Hall Gallery, Martha Jackson Jarvis:
Ancestors’ Bones, 2012
2010
University of Maryland University College, ”Mind, Body,
Spirit: Celebrating Regional Women Artists, 2010
2006
NEC Group of the Arts in Embassies Program US State
Department, “Sierra Leone, Freetown. Permanent
Collection of the Embassy of the United States. 2006
2005
Lisa E. Farrington, “Creating Their Own Image,
The History of African-American Women Artists.”
Oxford University Press. 2005
2004
Curtia James, “The Process of Discovery.”
Sculpture Magazine (January / February 2004)
Halima Taha, Ph.D, “The Brandywine workshop
Collection.” Hudson Hills Press. 2004
2003
Samella Lewis, “African American Art and Artists
Revised and Expanded Edition.” University of California
Press Ltd. 2003
2002
Lisa Gail Collins, “ The Art of History
African American Women Artists Engage the Past.”
Rutgers University Press. 2002
2000
Kim A. O’Connell, “Extending The Ephemeral.”
Landscape Architecture
(July 2000)
Chris Gilbert, “Hindsight/Fore-Site:
Interpreting Mr. Jefferson.” 64 Art
(August 2000)
1998
Sharon F. Patton, “African American Art.”
1997
John Beardsley, “Art and Landscape In Charleston and
the Low Country.” USA. Spacemaker Press. 1998
pp 94-101
Eleanor Heartney, “Return to Spoleto.” Art in America (December 1997)
Rick Lyman “New Parts of Town for Spoleto Festival.” The New York Times (June 2, 1997)
Richard J. Powell, “Black Art & Culture in the 20th Century.” London. Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1997
pp 170-171
St. James Guide to Black Artist Published in Association with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. St. James Press, 1997
1996
Sarah Tanguy, “Martha Jackson-Jarvis The Corcoran Gallery of Art.” Sculpture (October 1996)
1995
David C. Driskell, “African American Visual Aesthetics: A Postmodernist View,” Sharon Patton, “Living Fearlessly with and Within Difference(s). Emma Amos, Carol Ann Carter, and Martha Jackson-Jarvis.” Smithsonian Institution, 1995 pp 45
1994
Sources: Multicultural Influences on Contemporary African American Sculptors [ex.cat.]. College Park, MD: The Art Gallery at the University of Maryland, 1994.
1993
Artists Respond: The “New World” Question [ex.cat.]. New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1993.
Tom Csaszar, “Connected Passages.” American Craft (June 1993), pp 70-71.
1992
Acts of Grace [ex.cat.]. Newport News, VA: Peninsula Fine Arts Center, 1992.
1991
Ann Nichols, “Next Generation: Southern Black Aesthetic.” Chattanooga News-Free Press (July 7, 1991).
Eric Gibson, “Local Artist Shines in Second Solo Show.” Washington Times (June 27, 1991).
Michael Welzenbach, “The Shifting Portals at Kornblatt.” Washington Post (June 22, 1991).
Barbara Foxenberger, “Harn Opens 2 Shows.” The Gainesville Sun (Feb 22, 1991).
Lucy Beebe, “Black Heritage Showcased.” Ocala Star-Banner (Feb 20, 1991).
1990
The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s. New York: Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1990.
Legacies: African-American Artists [ex.cat.]. Summit, NJ: New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, 1990.
Samella Lewis, Art: African American. Los Angeles, CA: Hancraft Studios, 1990, pp 282-283.
Lucy R. Lippard, Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990, pp 62.
Next Generation: Southern Black Aesthetic [ex.cat.]. Winston-Salem, NC: Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, 1990.
Jeff Fleming, “Southern Black Aesthetics.” Ceramics Monthly (Dec 1990), pp 66-70.
Kay Larson, “Three’s Company.” New York Magazine (June 11, 1990).
Elizabeth Hess, “The Decade Show: Breaking and Entering.” Village Voice (June 5, 1990) pp 87-88.
Robin Barksdale, “Artist in Clay has Come Full Circle.” Winston-Salem Chronicle (April 26, 1990).
Vivien Raynor, “Comparing the Black Artist in the United States and Brazil.” New York Times (March 11, 1990).
1989
Michael Welzenbach, “Balance that Spells Beauty.” Washington Post (Sep 16, 1989).
Arlene Raven, “Mojotech.” Voice (Mar 8, 1989).
Richard Powell, The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism [ex.cat.]. Washington, D.C.: Washington Project for the Arts, 1989.
Henry J. Drewal and David C. Driskell, Introspective: Contemporary Art by Americans and Brazilians of African Descent [ex.cat.]. Los Angeles, CA: The California Afro-American Museum, 1989.
1988
A.S. Oldach, (Exhibition review: University Gallery, University of Delaware). New Art Examiner (Oct 1988), pp 54-44.
1987
David C. Driskell, Contemporary Visual Expressions: The Art of Sam Gilliam, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Keith Morrison, William T. Williams. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987.
Abe D. Jones, Jr., “Artist Brings Viewers into Art.” Greensboro News & Record (Oct 13, 1987).
Constance Bond, “Powerful Vision at Anacostia.” Smithsonian (May 87), pp 188.
Anita Blackburn, “Sculptor’s Work Reflects Early Experience.” The News and Daily Advance (June 21, 1987).
Benjamin Forgey, “Urban Expressions: Contemporary Art Opens at Anacostia.” Washington Post (May 16, 1987).
1986
Jane Addams Allen, “DC Enters Golden Age with ‘86 Museum Shows.” Washington Times Magazine (Dec 26, 1986).
Paul Richard, “Sites for Soaring Ideas.” Washington Post (Sep 18, 1986).
Michael Welzenbach, “To These Sculptors, New York is Nowhere.” Washington Times (Sep 11, 1986).
Lee Fleming, “Myth + Ritual.” Washington Review. (April/May 1986).
Sherry Chayat, “Mysticism Pervasive in Everson’s ‘Other Gods’.” Syracuse Herald American Stars Magazine (Feb 23, 1986).
Mike Powers, “Exhibit at Everson Primitive, Diverse.” Observer-Dispatch (Feb 23, 1986).
1985
Michael Welzenbach, “Galleries.” Washington Times (May 30, 1985).
1984
Sharon Patton, East/West: Contemporary American Art [ex.cat.] Los Angeles, CA: California Afro-American Museum, 1984.
Glenn C. Nelson, “Ceramics: a Potter’s Handbook.” New York: CBS College Publishing, 1984, pp 116.
1983
Jane Addams Allen, “Sculptors Divided on DC State of the Art.” Washington Times Magazine. (August 12, 1983).
Jane Addams Allen, “Some New Species from Local Innovator.” Washington Times, (August 11, 1983).
“Galleries.” Washington Post (August 4, 1983).
Paul Richard, “The Power and the Spirit.” Washington Post (Feb 19, 1983).
Jane Addams Allen, “Overcoming the Uglies with Mixed Media Images” Washington Times (Feb 18, 1983).
Benjamin Forgey, “Intriguing Ingenuity at WPA,” Washington Post (Feb 17, 1983).
1982
“Three Installations (Arlington Arts Center),” Arts (Nov 1982), pp 63.