Ann Smart Martin, UW-Madison's first Chipstone Professor of Decorative Arts, says our holiday rituals also underscore the importance of material objects to the way we present ourselves and how we envision our culture. Martin has spent her professional life gleaning meaning from material objects.
Objects are more than mere tools.
Humans use them to create and mediate social interaction and relations. In material terms, it meant moving from coarse ways of life to smooth. That shift opened the first door to consumer culture, which America enthusiastically continues to celebrate, she says. The goal of my work is to see how a period of major historical change affected everyday people. With such a broad area of interest, Martin's research extends in many academic directions.