Martha Iserman
Flora Fauna and Folklore
I am a watercolour artist and science illustrator from Minneapolis, Minnesota, currently working in Australia. My work has been shown in galleries in the United States and Australia, and my illustration work has been featured in numerous scientific publications, museums, journals, textbooks and educational websites.
My paintings are interpretations of familiar scenes from nature but observed through a hyper-focused lens. I zoom into a species to give it new life. A patch of mushrooms becomes a city of intertwining stems and gills. An unassuming grasshopper becomes a magnificent flying creature. I'm most interested in creating worlds within worlds by depicting familiar organisms in unfamiliar ways. My style is very detailed, using color, composition, and form to break out of traditional representational art tropes.
I create art as a way to interpret the underlying systems in history, language, and nature. I find motivation in fossil collections, mycology, folklore, natural history museums, terrariums, esoteric traditions, entomology, and sea monsters. I love complex overlapping stories and visuals.
I currently live and work in the Dandenong Ranges outside Melbourne, Australia, and I have found boundless inspiration from the ecosystem here. Living in a fern tree forest, surrounded by hills and streams, and visited by exotic parrots and bushy-tailed possums has been a dream. My most recent series has been featured at In.cube8r Gallery in Melbourne, and Wooby Lane Gallery in Hobart Tasmania.
Big Red Sharks comes from my childhood in Minnesota. Even though I'm from the land-locked Mid-West of the United States, I've had shark dreams (or nightmares if you prefer) almost weekly since I can remember. As I grew up, sharks became an obsession of mine, which became a lifelong love of ocean life and nature in general. Add that to my childhood nickname as a kid (being a tall redhead) and you get Big Red Sharks.
Education
2002 - 2006
BFA Fine Arts
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
2010 - 2011
Graduate Certificate in Science Illustration California State University Monterey Bay
Selected Clients/Commissions
-The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
-VICE Magazine
-The Field Museum of Natural History
-The Florida Institute of Neuroscience
-Nautilus Magazine
-TCI Education
-The University of Minnesota Cancer Research Center
-Free Range Films
-Nuvimedix
-Bayland Collections
-Palacio Inc
-The Science Museum of Minnesota
Exhibitions
Solo
2024
2023
Mycology, The Arts Lounge Wyreena AU
Environs, Cardinia Cultural Centre Cardinia AU
2023
Retrospective, The Old Auction House Kyneton AU
2021
Ongoing Representation, Wooby Lane Gallery Hobart TAZ
2021
Petals and Wings, Incube8r Gallery Fitzroy Melbourne AU
2010
Entropy and Evolution, Hopkins Center for the Arts Hopkins USA
2010
Aquatics Aquarium Gallery Duluth USA
2009
Rare Specimens Talley Gallery Bemidji USA
Group
2024
Art and Science, Burrinja Gallery Upway AU
2024
Antipodes, Beinart Gallery Brunswick Melbourne AU
2023
Buggin Out, Off the Kerb Gallery Melbourne AU
2023
Transcend, Burrinja Gallery Upway AU