Delita Martin: “I think Crystal Bridges put many of the artists on a totally different stage.”
The impact of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is felt not only by cities and states, in sales tax revenue and population growth statistics, but also by individual artists — for example, Delita Martin of Little Rock.
The inclusion of her work in the Bentonville museum’s State of the Art exhibition was a life-changing event for Martin.
“It has had a tremendous impact on me,” Martin said. “It definitely propelled my career. It really gave my career a boost beyond anything I could have expected.”
The exhibition, State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, was a vast survey of contemporary American art. It ran from Sept. 13, 2014, to Jan. 19, 2015, at the museum. The exhibition, which got national attention, then went on the road, traveling to Minneapolis, Memphis and Savannah, Georgia.
Before the exhibition, Martin had recently left her job as an adjunct art teacher at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and was trying to make a living from the sale of her art.
“Being able to have exhibitions and looking for opportunities was one thing,” she said. “But to have a constant stream of those opportunities coming through and literally having a schedule to adhere to is pretty much every artist’s dream. Right now, that’s what’s happening with my career. I literally have exhibitions, the majority of them solo exhibitions, booked between now and 2019.”
Sign up for Daily E-news
