"The encaustic medium encourages flexibility, texture and the ability to embed a variety of materials. I like to combine the control of screenprinting papers with the randomness of cutting those papers into free form shapes and juxtaposing vintage ephemera. I don’t start with a preconceived idea of how a collage will turn out. The shapes come out of my hand, and the colors are what I like. As a graphic designer used to controlling outcomes,I am both frightened and thrilled with the artistic practice of letting go." 


Marty Ittner discovered encaustic collage in 2009, and her work has been shown in many galleries, including a duo show at Evolve Urban Arts Project in Washington, DC in 2010. She is creative director at m-Art, her graphic design studio in Takoma Park, MD, and a board member and screenprint associate at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring, MD.  A seasoned graphic designer and creative director, Marty brings a decades-long love of typography, ephemera and photography to her collages. Inspired by the Dada movement, she often juxtaposes the absurd with the mundane. Natural forms, such as fish, seed pods and leaves interweave with the detritus of humanity, echoing the presence of man in almost all of our natural settings.

"Our world is going digital. I am fascinated by primitive and old correspondence, numbering, and the processes that made them: lead type, the human hand, the printing press." — Marty Ittner

"Ittner places us in the shoes of an archeologist discovering the cultural and natural debris that has been left behind. Each collage is created using variegated layers of wax and paper, forcing the viewer to visually dig through the components. Our reward is discovering fragments of ephemera, organic specimens and incised typographic forms within the framework. The encaustic process encapsulates each assemblage, creating the photographic equivalent of a snapshot in time. These seemingly random scraps provide only limited, imperfect impressions of a prior civilization, leaving the viewer to ponder the cultural significance of these items." --Eric Hope, Evolve Arts DC  edit.