Martha Quinn was born in Ireland in 1975 and studied at DLIADT from 1992-1995 graduating with a distinction in sculpture and print.
During the past 20 years Martha Quinn has gained a national reputation through her sculpture, paperworks (drawings, prints and cut paperwork) and most notably through her numerous public sculptures.
As stone and design tutor in the Leitrim Sculpture Centre for two years she was able to share a her love and proficiency of stone carving, her association with the centre continues, with her role as a director of the centre.
Her practice is informed and inspired by a wide variety of subjects including nature, craft, and architecture. In her public commissions her interest in these subjects are often referenced directly in a representational manner while in her other work the elemental forces that connect these interests manifests in abstract geometric patterns and structures.
“Intuitive geometry" was a term used to describe her work at the “Sleibhe ghearr’ sculpture symposium 2009 by fellow artist Cliodhna Cussen regarding the piece ‘Constellation’. Viewers likened the carved granite boulder to lace and patch work, while others were drawn to its more mathematical and geometric qualities. This cross over between the realms of organic and geometric is at play throughout her work.
A key element in Quinn’s public sculptures has been to create artwork which is integrated with its environment, not only with its physical and geographical surroundings but with its social, historical and cultural contexts also; and so each work is completely site-specific.
In recent years the contextual setting for her sculpture has become ever more important and has led to an increased focus on the space around a sculpture. The old adage that “a painting is nothing without a frame” is factorised several times in relation to sculpture and its setting. In the recent commission ‘Sun seeds’ for the Royal Hospital Donnybrook this concept has led her to produce, in addition to the sculpture, a comprehensive landscape design that encompasses the entire area of the courtyard in which the work is to be located.