Episode 327: Vivian Martin

Vivian Martin was born and raised in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Shortly after graduating from high school, she moved throughout the province, then found her place in Prince George where she has lived since 1985. She is married and now enjoying retirement.

Vivian has had a life-long love of photography, and into her adult life she has continued to study and work with photography and graphic art. Her keen eye for detail and ability to compose unique, artistically composed photographs has kept her interested in this medium.

2007, a year of the loss of loved ones, Vivian felt she needed further outlets to help her through those stressful times. She started off making her own jewelry, then moved her creative energies to include three-dimensional fabric sculpture figures, which she also teaches workshops on. She takes these creations to craft shows and has them in various retail stores.

Vivian continued in these mediums until COVID-19 shut everything down in 2020. She needed to keep her mind and hands busy, so she took up colouring. After several months, she had an epiphany; in that being a photographer, she should be creating her own colouring books. While everything was at a standstill, she took photographs of historical, iconic and interesting locations around Prince George.

Using her photos as inspiration, she created two hand-drawn colouring books all about Prince George. She didn’t stop there; she created five additional colouring books on various subjects, such as wildlife, transportation, abstract, mandalas and a children’s colouring book, with three additional new colouring books in progress. These colouring books can be found in many locations in Prince George, and at over ten Save-On Foods Stores throughout BC.

Vivian spends her summer months kayaking, camping and gardening, and rarely goes anywhere without her camera. She has recently taken up guitar and singing, just for fun. Her husband is a drummer, so she also spends a lot of time supporting him at his events, and taking band photos of his and different bands that play.

In the winter months, she still does a lot of photography, but uses this time to do photo editing, craft shows, relaxing, and searching for new retail locations to carry her work.

You can find her photographs on her website: vivian-martin.artistwebsites.com or on Facebook: Vivian Martin Photography