This FAQ brings together common questions about my work as an artist, therapist, and writer. Here you’ll find details about exhibitions and art materials, my therapeutic approach in Lexington and online, the themes of my novel The Crack in Everything, and the influences that shape my practice.
About Martin Beck
Writing & The Novel
Art & Creative Practice
Therapy & Counseling
I am an artist, therapist, and writer living and working in Lexington, Kentucky. My work moves between studio practice, psychotherapy, and literary fiction—three fields that all explore embodiment, memory, and transformation.
I see them as different expressions of the same impulse: to witness what has been exiled and bring it into form. My drawings, my clinical practice, and my novel The Crack in Everything all begin in the body, where pain, silence, and resilience carry meaning that words alone cannot contain.
My artwork has been shown in exhibitions across the United States, including Site:Brooklyn and Prince Street Gallery in New York, the Brand Library in California, and Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati. My writing has appeared in essays and excerpts on my blog, with my debut novel currently in development.
A: I trained in New York and Pittsburgh as a figurative artist, receiving multiple New Jersey State Council on the Arts grants. Later, after being diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, I also trained as a psychotherapist. Today, I balance private practice with my creative work in art and writing.