Mayan Wind
By Marvin Gates, Installed 2004
Martin was born in Lebanon Oregon in 1955. It was here, at his grandparents cabin near sisters Oregon, that he made his first carving, an indian head from a piece of juniper out of the firewood pile. With a claw hammer and a carpenters chisel a dream was born. His family moved south in the mid 60’s and finally settled in Gainesville, Florida.
He worked with his father in the family antique business. Through this exposure he studied the finely carved furniture and decorative art by restoring and carving missing pieces. In 1976, he studied woodcarving with famed Appalachian wood carver Jack Hall at the wonderful and still going strong John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. Never losing sight of his goal, he worked at his carving part time until 1979 when he apprenticed for wildlife artist Dan De Mendoza in Sanford, Florida. It wasn’t until 1987 when Martin won his first major award, that he turned to art as a full time career. His carving of a life size bald eagle pulling a bass from the water, titled ” Wind, Wings and Water”, was presented by the Corporate Conservation Council to the headquarters of The National Wildlife Federation to celebrate the removal of the eagle from the endangered species list.
Martin’s work ranges from a life sized figure of Mary for the Catholic Church to small humming birds and sea turtles. His carvings have a unique style of abstract shapes and forms and often capture motion with his use of line and mass. Martin now includes marble and alabaster as materials in his work. He has molded many of his carvings and offered them in limited edition bronze sculpture.
Martin is a member of the Society of Animal Artists and The National Sculpture Society. In 2021, Martin was inducted as a Fellow in the National Sculpture Society.
