GUSTAVO MARTINEZ

Gustavo Martinez was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. He earned a BFA from San Jose State University with a minor in Mexican American Studies and an MFA from the University of Washington in 2011 and was awarded the Parnassus Teaching with Excellence award.

Martinez is passionate about connecting with communities through ceramics and Indigenous traditions. He practices being one with nature by honoring his cultural heritage through traditional Indigenous ceremonies with the Hueco Tanks All Nations Sundance community in El Paso, Texas. Working as a production consultant at a ceramic water filter factory in Guatemala reminded Gustavo of the importance of caring for water. Martinez traveled to the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania with La Paz International Foundation to build a ceramic kiln in a woman’s pottery village. That same year he experienced the amazing journey of summiting Mount Kilimanjaro. These experiences have heavily influenced Gustavo’s sculptures and world outlook.

Martinez teaches ceramics at higher education institutions in the greater Seattle area, and is a part of the summer faculty at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska where he teaches ceramics to middle and high school students. Gustavo Martinez currently resides between El Paso, Texas, Tacoma, Washington, and San Jose, California.