Dr Babette Martini

babettemartini@yahoo.co.uk

Education

2003 – 2007            PhD, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff,
UK
2001 - 2002            MA Ceramics (with Distinction), University
of Wales Institute, Cardiff, UK
1989 – 1992            BA Hons (First Class) in Ceramics /
3-D Design, Bath College of Higher Education (now: Bath Spa University), UK
1988 - 1989            Foundation Course in Art and Design,
Bath City College of Further Education, UK
1978 - 1981            BA Hons in Social Work, University Essen, Germany

Solo Exhbibitions
2009            Der Menschliche Körper – Metamorphosen,
Fraunhofer Institut UMSICHT, Oberhausen , Germany (solo exhibition)
2009            Material Changes –Objects in Transition,
Institut für Kunst und Materielle Kultur, University
Dortmund, Germany (solo exhibition)

Selected Exhibitions
2009                            It Wouldn’t Be Worth It Without The
Struggle, Howard Gardens Gallery, UWIC, Cardiff, curated
by Neil Jeffries
2009            Der Menschliche Körper – Metamorphosen,
Fraunhofer Institut UMSICHT, Oberhausen , Germany (solo exhibition)
2009            Material Changes –Objects in Transition, Institut
für Kunst und Materielle Kultur, University Dortmund,
Germany (solo exhibition)
2008            A Collector’s Cabinet, curated by Alexander Sturgis
2008            Sculpture and Printmakers Show, St Ives Society of Artists, St Ives
2007            [Identity], Old Postal Museum, Bath, curated by
Mariele Neudecker
2006            Sculptures, Gallery 125, Bath
2005            Bodywork, Touring Exhibition, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, curated by Jo Dahn & Moira Vincentelli
2005            The Fragmented Figure, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
2004            The Human Form, Rufford Craft Centre
2004            University of Glamorgan Purchase Prize, University
of Glamorgan
2002            Mensen!, Keramiekcentrum Tienschuur, Tegelen,
The Netherlands
2001            Art London Art Fair, presented by Byard Art,
Cambridge
2000            Views across the Lake, Blickling Hall, Norfolk, Exhibition curated by Linda Theophilus and organised by the National Trust
1999            Everyone's a Winner, Touring Exhibition organised
by The Devon Guild of Craftsmen
1999             Figurative Ceramics, Six Chapel Row, Bath
1998            Figuratively Speaking, The Craft Centre and Design Gallery, Leeds
1997            Revolve, Stroud House Gallery, Exhibition in
connection with the Stroud Festival of Dance and Music
1997            Bodies in Clay, Firstsite Gallery, Colchester, c
urated by Linda Theophilus
1996            Collusion, Exhibition in connection with the Bath International Festival
1995             Figures in Clay, Crafts Council Gallery, London
1995             One from the Heart, Touring Exhibition in Wales
and England, organised by the Aberystwyth Arts Centre,
Wales
1995             Anglo-Taiwanese Education Fair, Taipei, organised
by the British Council
1993             Sydney Place, Bath, Sculptures, Drawings and
Prints (solo exhibition)
1993             Final Exhibition of the Honorary Postgraduate Fellowship in Ceramics, Bath College of Higher Education (Solo Exhibition)
1993             Ceramics Contemporaries, Victoria & Albert
Museum, London

Publications / Conferences

2009                Eisen erzieht – Metamorphosen, Fraunhofer
Institut UMSICHT, Oberhausen , Germany
2009                Shifting Perspectives – A Continental Artist on the
British Isles, Institut für Kunst und Materielle Kultur,
University Dortmund, Germany
2008                Writing about visual arts practice –
why should an artist ’talk’ with the pen? BANA
(Bath Area Network for Artists) Newsletter
2007                Becoming an Artist (PhD), BANA
(Bath Area Network for Artists) Newsletter
2007                The Expressive Capacity of the Ceramic
Medium and Process, Parallels and Connections, Conference, University of Sunderland
2006                Working with Clay: An Intimate Dialogue,
Thursday Talks Programme, Widcombe Studios, Bath
2006                The Role of the Computer within my Artistic, Material Based Practice, Designing for the 21st Century, collaborative, interdisciplinary creativity cluster, organised
by the Department of Computer Science, Bath University
2005                The Process as a Form of Expression,
Designing for the 21st Century, collaborative, interdisciplinary creativity cluster, organised by the  Department of Computer Science, Bath University, (video film), (published in: http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~tc225/creativity/
ArtistsBMartini.htm)
2005                The Process as a Form of Expression, Design,
Theorising Creativity, Symposium, University Newport
2005                The Figure Undone – Fragmentation in Process,
The Fragmented Figure, Conference, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (published in: http://www.uwic.ac.uk/ICRC/issue008/about.htm)
2005                The Process as a Form of Expression, Pride and Pre-Design, Cumulus Conference, Instituto des Artes, Visuals, Design E Marketing, Lisbon (published in: Pride & PreDesign - The Cultural Heritage and the Science of Design, CUMULUS LISBON 2005, ISBN 972-98701-3-6)
2004                The Making of a Concept: The Work of German Artist Sabine Heller, Ceramics in Society, Issue 56
2004                Between the Dog and the Wolf - An Analysis of Christie Brown's work at the Kingsgate Gallery London, 2 -12 October 2003, Interpreting Ceramics, Issue 5 (published in: http://www.uwic.ac.uk/ICRC/issue005/dogandwolf.htm)
2001                The Human Form in Clay, Jane Waller, Author / Editor, Ramsbury, Marlborough, The Crowood Press, ISBN 1 86126 41 3 5

Interdisciplinary Research

2005 - 2006            Designing for the 21st Century, collaborative, interdisciplinary creativity                   cluster, organised by the Department of Computer Science, Bath  University

Organisation of Conferences and Exhibitions

2008                Initiation and organisation of ACollector’s Cabinet, BANA’s (Bath Area Network for Artists) 2008 bi-annual selected members’ exhibition, curated by Dr. Alexander Sturgis, director of the Holburne Museum, Bath
2005                Conference The Fragmented Figure, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
2003                Exhibition Cardiff Art and Design Week,Gallery Craft in the Bay, Cardiff

Awards

2001                Postgraduate Award, Arts and Humanities Research Board
1998                Community House Arts Award, London
1993                Setting up Grant, Crafts Council, London
1993                Major Award from South West Arts
1992                Honorary Postgraduate Fellowship
1991                Gane Travel Award

Public Commissions

1999                Variations in ¾, ceramic wall design for the dance terrace of the Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre, Taunton
1998                Moving Conversation (wall mounted figures) for the Arc Theatre, Trowbridge

Public Collections

Ecco Design Centre, Denmark
Community Centre, London Borough of Enfield

Babette Martini – Statement

Babette's work is concerned with the expression of emotional and bodily states and the shifts in the bodily boundaries of inside and outside through material changes and the resultant metamorphoses in the artwork. Thus the behaviour of the material and the associations it evokes are central to Babette's practice. Expression in Babette's work is generated by material changes and not by the narrative of gestures or what is traditionally understood as contrapposto. In this way, the artistic process itself, its impetus and the unforeseen (event) become essential to her artwork and their act as a means of are felt as a form of communication between Artist and the medium. Babette considers the expressive force of the artwork in its various stages of making to be equally as valid as the ‘finished’ piece. Thus the artistic work becomes for Babette, both the result and the carrier of a series of transformations. In her work, Babette investigates the means by which the immanent authenticity of the artistic process and the expressive force of the medium are made visible and are integrated into the artwork as a whole.

Babette's current work examines facial expressions. On the one hand, they are to be understood as a reflection of inner feelings, the face being read as a text. On the other hand, expression itself becomes the mask we present to the external world. By combining materials which are traditionally employed to make images of the human figure, Babette's practice examines the expressive potential of each medium and how it inter-relates with other media.