gmartens

Gregory Martens


Milwaukee, WI USA
About

After ten years as a cobbler, at age 46, Martens was stricken with aggressive Bone Marrow Cancer. Many surgeries ensued, marrow transplants, months in the hospital, financial ruin, and great loss; but he recovered and went into full remission.

Physically unable able to fix shoes, Martens went back to finish college in the Art Department at UW-Milwaukee. The harder he worked as an artist the more he recovered. He finished his BFA and stayed on to finish grad school and received his MFA in 2012. Now he spends his time working in his studio workshop called Hip Joint Press, and teaches Printmaking at UW-Milwaukee. Gregory and Sharon have three adult children and one granddaughter, and live in Wauwatosa WI.

"I try to use familiar images from the last 150 years and re-work them into new scenarios by adding black line-work and text. Printmaking has been particularly useful for layering color and images. My favorite theme is survival amidst suffering (with a sense of humor)."

Books by Gregory Martens