Martel Wiegand

Martel Wiegand (born August 4, 1922, in Düsseldorf; died October 4, 2006, in Kaarst) was a German university lecturer, illustrator, textile artist, and watercolorist. After the war, she studied Free Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich from 1946 to 1949, where she met art educator Richard Ott and South American art teachers, which led to her first pedagogical ideas. In 1950, she passed the talent examination for university admission, allowing her to study at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf until 1952. After passing the state exam, she began teaching at the Städtisches Werkseminar am Räuscherweg. From 1953 to 1968, she ran an "open drawing room" for children and led an experimental class at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1955 to 1956. In 1972, she received a teaching assignment at the Comprehensive University of Essen (now the University of Duisburg-Essen) and became a lecturer and research associate in 1974, where she also became friends with Eva Thomkins. From 1974 to 1980, she stayed in Ireland and Italy for study purposes, including at the Villa Romana in Florence. Her students included Eva Marie Degenhardt, Rose Köster, Petra Füth, and Gabi Mett. Martel Wiegand's works are characterized by great versatility in themes and techniques, including textile objects, textile reliefs, cloths, collages, linocuts, watercolors, and gouaches in tempera. After her stay at the Villa Romana in Florence, she created her first fully plastic works, such as heads, cake pieces, boards, and rolls. She wrote short and concise visual poems directly related to her works, which she graphically adapted to sheets or envelopes, depending on the context of the respective series. Together with Helmut Blochwitz, she developed the art project "Zur Mitte hin" between 1991 and 1995, in which a total of 23 art steles were installed in the town hall square, in the city lake, and in the city garden in Kaarst.