Ann Aves Martin

Artist Ann Aves Martin Dead at 72

For girls in the 50s, the received wisdom in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was that they should not study art but should instead learn something "useful" just in case their husbands might--God forbid--some day drop dead. Good at languages, Ann Aves Martin dutifully prepared to become a French teacher; her degree from Rockford College included a year spent at la Sorbonne in Paris where she immersed herself in French culture.

That culture included Musée du Louvre, la Comédie Français, l'Opéra de Paris, le Château de Versailles, and, of course, Paris herself. She was enthralled by it all. Teaching the conjugation of French irregular verbs would never quite measure up to the experience of France itself.

And teaching brought other problems: she lost one position because a man was seen entering her apartment at night. The fact that the man in question was her brother John cut no ice with the superintendant. Besides teaching, she worked in a number of fields--advertising, broadcasting, agribusiness--before coming to art in the early 80s.

She started her studies with Richmond artists John Torres and Ann Lyne, then went on to The Art Student's League in Manhattan and to various workshops in Vermont and Arizona, under Wolf Kahn and David Leffel. She won a 6-week fellowship at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Mt. San Angelo, where she developed her love of gentle mountain landscapes.

It was in Richmond that her work was first accepted into shows and began to sell. Essentially a colorist at heart, she played her colors against one another in landscapes and still lifes, usually of fruit, often of a single fruit in its own space. The point was the bounce of the colors, but letting those colors form recognizable objects made her work more accessible to viewers: typically, people smiled when they looked at her paintings.

In 1993, the family moved to Maryland, where she found new studio space and new friends first in Savage Mills and then the Howard County Center for the Arts. She also showed her work at the Columbia Center for the Arts (and curated a show there), Slayton House, the Annapolis Court House, and the Maryland Art Place.

Arthritis began impairing her mobility in the late 80s; she was increasingly wheelchair dependent in the 90s. The Howard County Transit System (HATS) made it possible for her to get to her studios and continue her work. She became bedfast in 2006, and expired at Gilchrist Hospice Center April 15, 2007.

Ann Aves Martin is survived by her husband, Donald L. Martin, her son Peter G. Lukidis of Evanston, Illinois, her daughter, Jamie Ann Martin of Knoxville, Tennessee, and her brother, John Crake Aves, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Columbia Center for the Arts (6100 Foreland Garth, Columbia, MD 21045), where a celebration of her life and art will be held in September.

Photo of Ann by Alice St. Germain-Gray; used by permission.

Paintings by Ann

Three Amigos	Golden Field	Green Apple

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