About Martha Winsten

Martha Raleigh Winsten is a third generation artist.  Henry Raleigh, her grandfather, is in the Illustrators Hall of Fame and has works in such museums as the Hyde Collection.  Her mother, Sheila Raleigh Winsten, was an artist who with her husband movie critic Archer Winsten was part of the Harlem Renaissance.  She was a friend of well known African American artist Romare Bearden.  They mixed their paints together in his studio and went to see movies together with free movie passes that Archer gave them.  Martha has won fine art awards and her paintings are in the private collections of many well known people in the horse world.  Martha was born in N.Y.C and spent much of her childhood in Westport, CT.  She attended the Art Students League, The School of Visual Arts, Bard College, and graduated from Skidmore College.  For a number of years, Martha has painted portraits of animals and people.  She has written and illustrated children’s books as well as writing and singing the songs that accompany those stories.  She has also worked as an art teacher in the public schools on and off for a number of years.  Martha currently resides in Gansevoort, NY along with a number of dogs, cats, chicken, and a guinea fowl named Merrill.