Martha's profile

After a 35-year career in the preservation field, conserving rare library materials at prestigious educational institutions in the mid-Atlantic region, Martha Edgerton made the transition from book and paper conservation to book art.  She is the creator of the traveling exhibition entitled “The Amazing Race: The Atlantic Slave Trade through the Pages of Book Art” (TARBAE). 

Exhibit production had been a major part of Edgerton’s duties throughout her preservation career. She uses those skills combined with her knowledge of  various bookbinding and visual arts techniques to create and exhibit additional objects for her traveling show.
 
TARBAE premiered at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Maryland, February 2015. From there, the exhibit (or select items from the exhibit) appeared at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum and other Maryland institutions.  It has received attention from institutions and individuals across the United States. Local Maryland schools and libraries use it as a teaching tool for general and specific projects.  The main piece of TARBAE, entitled “I Was Once Lost,” won first prize in the 2017 Juried Members’ Exhibition at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (Hyattsville, Maryland).
 
Edgerton’s training, certification, and educational background includes: a five-year apprenticeship program in book and paper conservation/preservation at the Johns Hopkins University, a one-year internship in rare book and paper conservation/preservation at the Library of Congress, as well as a BS degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the Johns Hopkins University.


 

Martha's Curated Collection

View Martha's favorite works from other Baker Artists