"Internationally uplifting accents of yellow, blue and red colors, Martha Branner’s collages are highly expressive and deeply inspiring. Her bold layers of paint, paper, music and typography, leap out of their frames as 3D images, rather than just framed art. Their depth of contrast and figurative qualities demand attention, create conversation, and leave subtlety at the door. Not to be missed, they bring an invigorating refreshment unequaled in the Bay Area art scene."

-Lettie McGuire, Ed.M, Harvard University
Neuroscience Informed Designer, Educator, Artist

 

“In Martha Branner’s mixed media paintings, the focus and energy of each collage is enacted powerfully from its center, pushing--or in some cases collapsing--out to a vibrant scattering of colors and forms. Each piece balances engrossing color composition with subtle abstractions and stimulating combinations of curves, squared corners, and sometimes indefinite edges. Found items such as buttons, rulers, matchbooks, instruction labels from cardboard boxes, postmarks, and snippets of musical scores suggest a daily lived intimacy, an insistence on the viewer’s imbuing the piece with her or his own personal meaning. Clippings and images from magazines, news headlines, want ads, and articles in various languages tell us that this art that envelopes us richly and personally is also from the larger mind of the world. Each of these beautiful pieces is to be meditated upon, deeply and daily enjoyed.”

 

 -Elizabeth McNeil, PhD, Arizona State University

​

“I first encountered Martha Branner’s work in a collage class on the Stanford University campus several years ago. I still remember my astonishment on viewing her pieces for the first time. Self-assured, completely improvised, dynamic, they stood out for their intelligence and mystery. In viewing her work over the intervening years, my admiration has only grown. She possesses in abundance an attribute that all collage artists strive for: an intuitive awareness of precisely where to place things.”

 

-Michael Pauker, MFA, Mills College

Art Professor, Curator, Artist