Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, now working in Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges, Martha Iserman has developed a technically formidable style which has been published in places as diverse as Vice magazine and scientific journals. She has had pieces in Brunswick’s Beinart gallery, and has regularly been part of the annual Dandenong Ranges Open Studio.
Her latest solo exhibition is in The Memo Healesville, in other words the Memorial Hall on the Maroondah Highway. It’s a single room filled primarily with dozens of small works.
Her art harks back to the early days of scientific exploration and discovery (circa 1500s to 1900s), with portraits of a wide range of living organisms, from fungus to mammals. In this exhibition, she holds them thematically together by having each of the four walls representing one of the classical four elements of the world – earth, air, fire and water.
The ‘earth’ and ‘water’ walls are not only composed of dozens of small works, but have large-scale works as their centrepieces, ‘earth’ by a huge landscape/ cityscape of fungus, and ‘water’ by a diptych of octopuses.
The ‘water’ wall very much embodies the show’s title, Flora, Fauna & Folklore, as well as the intention from the artist’s statement – the show aims to reveal ‘the connections between observation, imagination and the enduring unknown of the wild’.
It does this by showing every aquatic species imaginable – everything on the evolutionary chart from coral and jellyfish to mammals such as seals, whales and humans (represented by galleon ships) – and interspersing them with mythical entries from ancient Bestiaries. Prawns, manta rays and Anglerfish sit among the occasional tritone, ketea or kraken.
These images – some religious and ancient, some secular and modern – are both contradictory and complementary in Iserman’s context; both are human’s attempts to harness, categorise and understand the world around them. Both are products of their times, very different times, but they were both created by humans.
Another distinctive touch is that the ‘water’ section’s dozens of pieces were done on paper, then mounted on wood, then covered in epoxy resin, resulting in each work looking like a polished tile; the result is very effective.
Martha Iserman: captivating
The exhibition’s other three sections are equally captivating. The ‘air’ wall is filled with watercolours of birds, all in flight, giving the wall a dynamically flowing style. The ‘earth’ wall is a mix, mostly in oils, of forest animals, predator and prey, poisonous and non-poisonous, the conspicuous and camouflaged.
The central work, Fairy Ring, is a horizontal landscape of mushrooms and fungus around a metre in length.
The ‘fire’ section features two tables, one fire-red, both covered in scientific equipment, skulls, bones and mounted insects, again harking back to the early days of scientific discovery and wonder; to quote from the artist’s statement, this section ‘highlights where natural history and creativity converge’. Behind the red-draped table are three excellent drawings of early scientific books, covered and surrounded by specimens, quite possibly resembling Charles Darwin’s desk on board the Beagle.
For those bringing kids, the show also features simple worksheets and even a table in the foyer for colouring in (with black-and-white illustrations by Iserman herself).
The show is on until late September, with weekly workshops by the artist (details below), and a closing event. Iserman’s exhibition offers an extra nature-related pitstop during your next visit to Healesville Sanctuary, just five minutes’ drive away.
Martha Iserman: Flora, Fauna & Folklore at The Memo Healesville is free to attend and runs until 28 September 2025. More information, including opening hours. Workshops with Martha Iserman run every Wednesday from 6 to 7pm until 13 August.
