SuperPly and Friends

January 7 to March 5, 2022

SuperPly and Friends is Barbara Martin’s ongoing series of primarily black-and-white paintings on bare plywood. The Friends portion of the series are some pieces, painted in a similar vein as the black and white pieces, but this time using color.

“This is the only series I have been able to sustain over a long period of time, in this case years. For this series, I prefer to complete each painting in a relatively short time frame, over just a day or two. This helps me avoid overworking the piece.

Each piece is an intuitive process of discovery wherein I paint without a plan, responding in an improvisational manner to what has just happened previously. I do my best never to erase or repaint over top, but instead to build upon what has already shown up.

I call these character in the paintings “my little creepers” with great affection. Although I can't explain precisely how they come to me, I can say that they hold a special place in my heart.” - Barbara Martin

SuperPly and Friends is now exhibited at the wonderful Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, MO, Jan 7 to March 5, 2022.See Barbara’s artist talk at Spiva and watch her live paint during the opening. Spiva Exhibits Director Shaun Conroy is wild about the exhibit. See Shaun discussing the exhibit on Living Well, KSN 4 TV.

The exhibit played host to nearly 1000 students who learned about the exhibit and created art based on it.