Marti Somers

Tweet A native Californian, Marti Somers received her fine arts degree at the University of Hawaii. Upon graduation, she returned to California and had a successful career as a graphic designer at Stanford University, ultimately co-founding Artefact Design in Palo Alto, CA. She has won numerous awards for her published illustrations, often described as whimsical in nature. In 2001, she left Artefact Design to follow her passion as a painter. "I am grateful everyday to have found what I was meant to do, and to live the life I was meant to live." Marti achieves rich surfaces in her paintings by building layers of paint on birch panel, then scraping, sanding, drawing, and glazing until images emerge from the surface to tell their story. Much is to be discovered in what lies between the layers, and this is what ultimately draws you into her world. "As a visual artist, I hope to bring you into my world of storytelling. The search for peace and beauty, the fragility of nature juxtaposed against modern life, the human form in balance with others, and in the face of an often foreboding sky, abundant hope." "My paintings always find their way back to the subject of nature and the questions of modern life. Without the viewer's participation, my paintings feel unfinished." Somers' work is represented nationally and collected globally. She has published a number of books, and is the recipient of many awards for her illustration and paintings.