Martha Bird, (b.1963, New York) is a studio artist based in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. Her formal and informal education weave into her artistic practice.  Bird initially earned a BS Nursing degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1987) and holds licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN) and Public Health Nurse (PHN). Early in her career, she experienced a disabling injury and within a few years signed up for a basketry class as a self-directed attempt to rehabilitate. When successful, Bird went on to earn an MA in Holistic Health from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota (2002) and holds licensure as an HNB-BC (Holistic Nurse Baccalaureate-Board Certified).  For over thirty years she has engaged in a deep exploration of basketry around the world, traveling extensively in pursuit of her research, knowledge  and skills. In 2016, Bird made the decision to shift her work to art, opening the doors for her to express herself as an artist.

 

Support for Bird’s work has included Minnesota State Arts Board grants: Creative Individuals (2025), Creative Support for Individuals (2023, 2022, 2021), Artist Initiative (2019) and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Arts Impact for Individuals Grant (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022).  She has been awarded merit scholarships to the following art and craft schools: Wisconsin Sievers School of Fiber Arts (2023), Vermont North Country Studio Workshops (2020), Minnesota’s Saint Catherine’s University Women’s’s Art institute (2018), North Carolina John C. Campbell Folk School (2017) and Peters Valley School of Craft (2017). She has participated in Minnesota's Lanesboro Arts & Jerome Foundation Artist Residency (2022), Anderson Center at Tower View Artist Residency (2019), and Hinge Arts Career Development Residency (2019).

 

Recognition for Bird’s work includes invitations to exhibit at the Atlantic Gallery in New York City (2023), as well as on the international platform artsy.net with Susan Hensel Gallery (2021-22, 2023-24). Lloyd Herman, Founding Director of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, chose one of her contemporary basketry sculptures to tour for a year in Washington, Massachusetts, and New Jersey with the National Basketry Organization All Things Considered 9: Basketry in the 21st Century (2017 - 2018). Her work was described as “a benchmark of excellence...that demonstrate[s] superior technique and original concept and design.” The Star Tribune Magazine featured her work in “The Wonders of Weaving” (2020). She was also a McKnight Fellowship for Fiber Artists semi-finalist (2025) and a McKnight Visual Arts Fellowship finalist (2021).  

 

Her work is in the collections of the Garrett Museum of Art (IN), Minnesota Historical Society (MN), Newark-Arcadia Historical Society (NY), Romulus Historical Society (MI), and St. Louis County Historical Society (MN) as well as numerous private collections including in New  York, California, Indiana, Minnesota, Florida, West Virginia, and Texas.

 

Bird remains committed to community as a presenter, arts organizer, teaching artist, curator, and consultant; her studio is located at F-O-K Studios on Harriet Island in St. Paul, Minnesota.