Artist Profile: Marty Jonas

Marty Jonas had a creative upbringing. Her mother taught her to knit, crochet and sew. Her father was skilled with tools, so he taught her to hammer, saw, solder and drill. “I cannot remember a time when I was not doing something creative, using threads or cloth with my hands,” says Jonas.

Jonas has experimented in a variety of media, including figurative sculptures and unusual collages created from advertisements on Berkeley telephone poles.

Her current medium is textiles. As a student of embroidery at the City and Guilds Of London Institute in England and Pacific Basin School for Textile Arts in Berkeley, she manipulates fabrics to create textural pieces.

“Cloth can be used in an infinite number of ways and has the ability to convey messages, to alter meanings and to transform the ordinary,” she says. Jonas' fabrics are pleated, scrunched, ruched, shredded, rotted, bleached and dyed. She embellishes pieces with threads, Tyvek, plastics, metals, papers, silk cocoon waste and paints to create unique works of art. 

Jonas works prolifically, often developing a concept for one piece while working on another. “It is this constant, stimulating flow of ideas that causes my work to evolve,” she says.

Her goal is create works that are complex and interesting both from a distance and up close.

“I try to use the medium to its maximum, pushing beyond tradition in hopes of sparking the viewer’s imagination, thoughts and memories,” she says.

“The tactile quality of fiber and thread, combined with surface design techniques, provide me with the opportunity to speak visually, that which, I cannot express in words. Fiber is an extension of my voice.”

Jonas has been exhibiting her work since 1993 in galleries in the Bay Area and nationally. She works from her studio at the Benicia Arsenal and has been an active member of for years. Jonas will be participating and volunteering at the upcoming .