by Marie Doyon
Celebrating Dataw’s Artists is delighted to recognize Dale Martin, one of VAC’s founding members. She, along with Laura Bricker, Carol McArthur, Anne Williams, Rose Harrison, Nan Bopp, Lynn Brown, Trish Gardner, Anne Savaro, Laura Cody, and Dick Golobic worked feverishly to establish the island’s first visual arts club 20 years ago!
Dale’s energy, enthusiasm, positivity, and creative pursuits have only enhanced the lives of her fellow Datawites. She continues to support VAC in many ways and currently serves on the VAC Board as our Historian. A familiar and friendly face to many Dataw residents, Dale has never stopped working to improve our island’s recreational and social offerings. And for that, we are ever grateful.
Marie Doyon
February 2023
Where are you from and what do you make?
Born in Manhattan, New York and grew up in West Hempstead. Since then, I have lived in seven other states: Massachusetts, California, Missouri, Illinois, New Jersey, Florida, and now South Carolina.
I met an old flame at our 50th high school reunion on Long Island. We settled in Plymouth County, Massachusetts and purchased a home. But after having lived in Florida, the Boston area was too cold for me, so we bought a pied-a-terre condo in Stuart to spend winters in a warmer clime. Upon retirement, we searched up and down the east coast for the perfect community. Lo and behold, a friend, Sheila Korhammer, steered us to beautiful Dataw.
What do I make? First of all, I make me satisfied! I make anything that comes to mind – works of all sizes in almost every media, including oil, acrylics, mixed media, and clay. My most recent creations are the two horses done in the VAC Clay Studio. I created several bronze cast sculptures in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where a friend and I built a foundry. And thank goodness, most of my artistic endeavors have been sold or donated to charity.
All art in this article is by Dale Martin
How long have you seriously been pursuing art?
It’s been sporadic. In the 7th grade, I briefly worked creating children’s greeting cards at a small Hallmark studio. In the late 60s and early 70s, I had the opportunity to study art at the Genevieve and Donald Gilmore Art Center and Western Michigan University for four years.
Most of my time was devoted to earning a living and being a mom to two fab daughters. I graduated with a BSN and as an RN and worked nights in hospital labor and delivery. Luckily, I was chosen to participate in a newly created master’s degree program in nursing at Yale University.
I frequently moved, which afforded me other work experiences: I created a railroad salvage company, Industrial By Products, Inc., in Harvey, Illinois, established tennis and social programs at Crossings Country Club (Dade, Florida) and White Cliffs Country Club (Plymouth, Massachusetts), and finally, for 15 years I endeavored as a Psych Medical Case Manager/Consultant for the Northeast corridor and Florida.
Shortly after arriving on Dataw, a group of tennis, golf, and dining friends urged on by Laura Bricker got together and lobbied for a space for artists in the newly built Community Center, and that’s when VAC was born! We were dubbed “cowboys” by club members, and along with Community Center management, we worked to create what is now the Arts and Crafts room. First, of course, we needed a president, and I was roped in to fill that position in 2003, and we soon recruited others to serve on a board. Then, in November of that same year, we held our first hugely successful member art exhibit featuring cheap wine and lots of art chatter.
What inspires you to create?
In a word, EVERYTHING. In everything ‘I feel,’ ‘I think, and ‘I see,’ tumble together.
Which artists have had the most impact on your creations? What do they do and in what way do they influence you?
Initially, I would say Lorin Kerst, my instructor at Kalamazoo’s Genevieve and Donald Gilmore Art Center. He was a minimalist who taught oils, acrylics, drawing, and sculpture. Also, Clifford Still is an artist whose work I first saw in an Amsterdam museum. I loved its simplicity.
I admire Andy Warhol’s “paint what you see” approach in that your work does not have to be the “standard beautiful.” Then there’s Picasso’s and Cezanne’s technique of disassembling.
As Deanna Bowdish, a local artist known for her colorful suspended sculptural work, says, “explore it all…anything goes and can be deemed as art.”
Is there a work of art that has changed your life or how you view the world in some way?
I recently revisited the new installation of Martin Luther and Coretta King in Boston Common and Modigliani’s gamut of works at a show in Philadelphia. These works reinforced that something peaceful can exist in these turbulent times.
As a member of VAC, what do you like most about us?
The club is open-minded, imaginative, fearless, and dedicated to forward-thinking. VAC listens, assesses, and acts; the club is an incredible asset to the Dataw frame of mind.