Blanca Martinez

Blanca Martinez graduated from NMSU with her Masters in Fine Arts. She uses craft materials and techniques, specifically fiber arts and textiles, as a means to delve into personal stories and relationships. Martinez’s practice explores the intimate relationships among family members and their roles in shaping her identity. Crochet techniques provide a bridge connecting Martinez to older generations, and serve as a medium to address the lack of cultural tradition and values in her upbringing. Martinez creates works inspired by childhood memories of food and familial connection. Martinez crafts soothing bodies of work by way of tufting techniques that invite audiences to interact, evoking a sense of comfort just from the sight of the work's texture. Despite that sense of support which draws a viewer in, each piece contains an underlying meaning of disconnect that resonates with Martinez's past. While in the presence of comfort from her memories, her art creates a reconnection to a disconnected world