BIOGRAPHY

Martie Bitzer is currently a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the University of the Free State, lecturing design as well as presentation techniques. She has 30 year’s experience as lecturer at different tertiary institutions in the Free State as well as Gauteng.

In 2016 as well as 2017 her works were exhibited in the Phatshoane Henney New Breed Art Competition's exhibition at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum. Her work is included as part of the Free State Art Collective exhibition at Gallery 2 in Rosebank, in both 2019 and 2021. Martie is currently completing a PhD by Design though the Department of Architecture, UFS, focusing on innovative behaviour of ‘emancipated skin’ found in buildings and related disciplines.

“Over the last four years my interest in the relationship between architecture and related disciplines has culminated in research focusing on Ecdysis – the shedding of skin. The process recognizes shedding as an intelligent growth mechanism on metaphorical, nostalgic, pragmatic, and emotional levels. Skin and its integumentary system of feathers, hair and nails, forms part of animal remains after the flesh has dissolved and my work comments in part on new manifestations of these found remains through digital drawing. ‘Skin’ as an edge condition also comments on discarded containers in everyday life i.e., truck tires shed on the highway. As celebrated surface of inscription, skin remains a place of renewal as recurring theme in my work, a vehicle of mapping, a diagnostic tool, a surface of truth.”