About Marty

About Me

I was born in Brooklyn in the spring of 1945; the War in Europe would be over in less than a month.  We lived in an apartment building across from a park and a block-and-a-half from the beach in Brighton.  When I was in Kindergarten we moved to Woodmere and later Hewlett, where I graduated HS.  A B.S. from Fairleigh Dickinson U., Madison followed and later an M. Ed. from Boston State College/U. Mass.

I've lived in many places, both here and abroad, and held a variety of positions, including cab driver, waiter, organic gardener, social worker in Brooklyn and Boston, bread deliverer but mainly, teacher.  I've taught since 1976, in Boston, NYC (23 years in PS 108 in East New York) and Long Island (English as a Second Language for Nassau BOCES, part-time since 1991).  I’m also a tennis teaching pro during the summers (since 1990 @ Hofstra U. Summer Camp).

My 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters enrich my life immeasurably.  Both my mother and sister painted; my ex-wife was an accomplished crafts person; one of my sisters-in-law is a professional illustrator, the other is a photographer.  So I've had a lot of artistic influences and I’m a product of them all.

 My Art

The idea of collage making developed for me over the last couple of years; oddly enough, it was an outgrowth of my drawing and painting (mostly landscapes).  I can say more, politically and socially and thus creatively, with collages.

My main themes: nature, radical politics, anti-war and anti-exploitation, with social history/commentary, hyper-consumerism and our (oft debased) culture, mainly of the last 70 years or so….and humor.