Sculptor, Martha Townsend, was born in Ottawa and lives in Montreal. Her work is well known for its evocative use of materials and its simple forms. She has developed a distinctive and poetic visual language that calls equally upon the senses and the intellect. Since she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1978, her work has been shown in numerous individual and group exhibitions in Canadian museums, galleries, and ad hoc spaces. She has taught in Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts, and she has lectured on her work as a visiting artist in Canada and abroad. She has participated in art juries and committees including a recent three-year mandate as a Specialist for the Politique de l’intégration des arts à l’architecture du Québec.
Townsend has created several ephemeral site works as well as permanent public art pieces, notably at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, in Terra Cotta Park in Pointe-Claire, at Bloorview Kids in Toronto, and at the McGill University Hospital Centre in Montreal. Her work is represented by the Galerie Roger Bellemare / Galerie Christian Lambert, and has recently been shown at the Musée d’art contemporain in Montreal, and at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.