Art has always been a part of Delita Martin’s life. Growing up in Conroe, she learned the art of storytelling while helping her grandmother make quilts. After earning her bachelor’s in fine arts from Texas Southern University and a graduate degree in printmaking at Purdue University, Martin joined the fine arts faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
While she enjoyed teaching, Martin knew it wasn’t her vocation. “I do what I can,” she says, “until I can do what I want.” What she wanted: to create art full-time.
That dream was fulfilled when a friend found Martin a 2-acre property for her to build a studio in Huffman, 30 miles northeast of Houston. The multifaceted creative launched Black Box Press Studio in 2014 and uses techniques such as printmaking, drawing, sewing, collage, and painting to spotlight the stories of African American women. “All these tools and skills I’ve learned over the years, I had to give myself permission to put them in the work,” she says.
In 2021, Martin collaborated with heralded film director Ava DuVernay on a large-scale painting for her Law Enforcement Accountability Project. And in 2024, she had solo exhibitions in Massachusetts and at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Next year, she will present a solo exhibition of her new work, The Song Keepers, at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
Soon, Martin will launch an on-site residency for artists working in printmaking, papermaking, and letterpress printing. “I love having artists come in and work,” she says. “It makes me want to work, too.”
