{{Short description|American artist}} {{Multiple issues| {{COI|date=April 2021}} {{Paid contributions|date=April 2021}} }} {{Infobox person | name = Martha Nessler Hayden | image = Martha_Hayden_painting_outside_2019.jpg | caption = Martha Hayden at work (May 2019) | other_names = Martha N. Hayden, Martha Hayden | birth_name = Martha Nessler | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1936}} | birth_place = [[Evanston, Illinois]], US | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = [[Art Institute of Chicago]] }} '''Martha Nessler Hayden''' (born 1936)<ref name=":10" /> is an American artist, known for [[Modernism|Modernist]] landscape painting and [[Artist's book|artist books]].<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Auer|first=James|date=May 24, 1992|title=Women's show proves a strong one|page=E6|work=The Milwaukee Sentinel|url=|access-date=}}</ref> Hayden lives and works in [[Sharon, Wisconsin]], in a historic [[Victorian house|Victorian home]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=20 October 2005|title=Martha Hayden planning annual art exhibition|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/588612625/|url-access=limited|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-31|website=Newspapers.com|publisher=The Lake Geneva Regional News|page=43|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Potter|first=Tyler|title=Watercolor Wisconsin 2010|url=https://www.ramart.org/exhibit/watercolor-wisconsin-2010/|access-date=2021-01-30|website=Racine Art Museum|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FIsgAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Martha+Hayden%22+wisconsin|title=Art Now Gallery Guide: International|date=May 2005|publisher=Art Now, Incorporated|isbn=|volume=24, Issues 9-10|location=|pages=30|language=en}}</ref>

She has produced art in many mediums including oil paint, acrylic paint, watercolor, gouache, fabric art, ceramics and enameling. Over the years, she has also maintained studios in New York City in [[Astoria, Queens|Astoria]] (1995–2001) and on the [[Lower East Side]] (2001–2017).

== Early life and education == Martha Nessler was born in 1936 and she grew up in [[Evanston, Illinois|Evanston]], [[Illinois]]. The daughter of librarian Minerva Kraft Nessler and cheese equipment [[industrial design]]er Aldo Edward Nessler.<ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1960-09-02|title=Obituary for Aldo E. Nessler (Aged 55)|pages=9|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68988464/obituary-for-aldo-e-nessler-aged-55/|url-access=limited|access-date=2021-01-31}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Heise|first=Kenan|date=1994-12-23|title=Minerva Kraft Nessler, 88, Librarian, Philanthropist|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-12-23-9412230055-story.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-31|website=Chicago Tribune|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=3 April 1952|title=Obituary: Charles Herbert Kraft|pages=71|work=Wilmette Life|url=https://news.wilmettelibrary.info/1691660/data?g=d|access-date=}}</ref> Her maternal grandfather was Charles Herbert Kraft, one of the brothers who founded [[Kraft Foods Inc.|Kraft Cheese Company]].<ref name=":1" />

Hayden attended [[Bradley University]] for two years (1953–1955), majoring in the Ceramic Arts before transferring to the [[Art Institute of Chicago]] where she majored in to Drawing-Painting-Illustration (DPI), and received her BFA degree in 1961.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-05-22|title=Paint Annapolis Spotlight: Martha Hayden|url=https://mdfedart.wordpress.com/2017/05/22/paint-annapolis-spotlight-martha-hayden/|access-date=2021-01-30|website=Maryland Federation of Art Blog|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=9 January 2003|title=2-Woman Show Takes You "Inside/Outside"|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/242563014/?|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-31|website=Newspapers.com|publisher=The Sheboygan Press|page=19|language=en}}</ref>

Following graduation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she used a Byron Lathrop Foreign Traveling Fellowship to study at Schule des Sehens (“School of Seeing”) at the International Summer Academy for Visual Arts in [[Salzburg]], [[Austria]], with [[Oskar Kokoschka]] in 1962.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=|title=Lively Oils, Sculpture Combined in Duo Show|last=Key|first=Donald|date=c. 1965|work=The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|access-date=}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Martha Nessler Hayden, Biography|url=http://www.askart.com/artist/Martha_Nessler_Hayden/11008242/Martha_Nessler_Hayden.aspx|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=AskArt.com}}</ref>

== Career == She has traveled to Mexico to paint on multiple occasions and during these trips, she has spent time in [[San Miguel de Allende]], the [[Yucatán Peninsula]], and [[Morelia]].<ref name=":10" /> A significant series of works done during the 1970s are her landscapes from Mexico. These were painted outside, on location, in rural Mexico during the winters of 1970-71 and 1971–72. These paintings stand out from other landscapes done by Martha because the Mexican sky is typically a stronger shade of blue than that seen in Wisconsin, and the vegetation was also much different. Donald Key, Art Critic for the ''[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]'', described these works in. the 1970s as "profuse in color and immediately responsive to atmospheres and objects."<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Key|first=Donald|date=c. 1970|title=Bright Mexican Scenes Make Exhibit Glisten|work=The Milwaukee Sentinel|url=|access-date=}}</ref>

In the 1970s she eventually settled down in Sharon, Wisconsin.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|last=Schoenberg|first=Louann|date=April 20, 1989|title=Sharon Artist Blends Aptitude With Talent|page=1C|work=Janesville Gazette|url=|access-date=}}</ref> James Auer, Milwaukee Journal Art Editor, in his 1972 review of her exhibit at Bradley Galleries in Milwaukee, described her as the "[[Philip Pearlstein]] of kraft paper, achieving a remarkable plasticity and sensuality with the simplest of subject matter"<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|last=Auer|first=James|year=1972|title=Brown Paper Bags Are Her Bag|work=The Milwaukee Sentinel|url=|access-date=}}</ref>

During the 1980s, Martha Hayden painted the world that surrounded her in rural Wisconsin. Her largest work was created in 1985, a mural portraying the history of [[Beloit, Wisconsin|Beloit]], [[Wisconsin]], installed on the walls of Beloit City Hall. The City of Beloit commissioned this work from Martha Hayden in 1983.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|last=Burke|first=Carol|date=1991-11-12|title=Artist: Don't Get Too Comfortable|pages=1B & 3B|work=Janesville Gazette|department=Local/Area|location=Janesville, WI|url=|access-date=}}</ref><ref name=":7" />

Two of her most unusual works were on display at the U.S Smithsonian Museum in 1988. They are two wooden eggs on which scenes of the Wisconsin farmland and Wisconsin lakes are painted. Martha Hayden was one of 200 American Artists chosen to paint these special eggs which were also on view during the White House Easter Egg Roll.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news|last=Jensen|first=Debra|date=April 3, 1988|title=Hayden Paints Egg for D.C. Roll|page=9B|work=The Sunday Gazette|publisher=The Janesville Gazette|location=Janesville, WI|access-date=}}</ref>

One of the oil paintings that Martha created in 1989 is of bosc pears in a rustic setting, this painting was purchased by the Nebraska State Art Collection.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bosc Pears by Martha Hayden|url=https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/nebraskapublicart/artist/martha-hayden|publisher=Nebraska State Art Archive}}</ref>

The Naperville Art League chose in 1990, Martha Hayden's painting of a giant flower for Best of Show Award at the Riverwalk Art Festival.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news|title=Naperville League Announces Riverwalk Art Fair Winners |last=|first= |date=September 27, 1990 |work=Daily Herald |access-date=|location=Suburban Chicago|page=5|department=Naperville}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=|title=Art League Announces Riverwalk Fair Winners |last=|first= |date=September 28, 1990 |work=The Naperville Sun |access-date=|page=5}}</ref>

In 2001, she was included in the exhibition: "11th Annual Remarkable Women Show." held in Peltz Gallery in Milwaukee.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=11th Annual Remarkable Women Show|url=https://wisconsinart.org/archives/exhibition/11th-annual-remarkable-women-show-25.aspx|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=|publisher=Museum of Wisconsin Art}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Martha N. Hayden/Exhibitions|url=https://wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/martha-n-hayden/exhibitions-4591.aspx|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA)}}</ref>

Hayden has also created a series of artist books, and one of her books is in the Harvard University Fine Arts Library collections.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2018|title=Morning/noon/night, Hayden, Martha.|url=https://harvardfineartslib.tumblr.com/post/178039682506/artists-books-are-art-works-created-in-a-variety|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-31|website=Harvard University Fine Arts Library}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=What you won't be reading on your Kindle, part 2|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/americas/2010/07/what-you-wont-be-reading-on-your-kindle-part-2.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-31|website=British Library, American Collections blog}}</ref> Her artwork is in various museum collections including the [[Chazen Museum of Art]] (previously known as Elvehjem Art Center),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Tancill|first=Karen B.|date=4 June 1978|title=Individual Imagery Artist's Forte|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/342742805/|url-access=subscription|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-31|website=Newspapers.com|publisher=The Journal Times|page=19|language=en}}</ref> [[Salzburg Museum]],<ref name=":0" /> [[São Paulo Museum of Art]],<ref name=":0" /> and [[Art Institute of Chicago]].<ref name=":0" />

== Further reading == * {{Cite book|last1=Heft|first1=Caren|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3iLlzQEACAAJ|title=For the Birds: Artists Examine Aviary Abodes: Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts|last2=Pepich|first2=Bruce|publisher=Wustum Museum Art Association|others=Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts|year=1990|isbn=|location=Racine, Wisconsin|pages=|oclc=29729863}} * {{Cite journal|date=2005|others=Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors, Inc|title=Artists in All Media|url=|journal=Art in Wisconsin, the Monthly Newsletter of the Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors|type=Periodical|location=Madison, Wisconsin|volume=|pages=|oclc=18214546}}

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayden, Martha Nessler}} [[Category:1936 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Artists from Wisconsin]] [[Category:American women painters]] [[Category:People from Sharon, Wisconsin]] [[Category:Artists from Evanston, Illinois]] [[Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni]] [[Category:21st-century American women]]