Born in Woodford Bridge in Essex in 1953, one of five sons.

Studied on the Foundation course in Art and Design at Loughton College in 1976-77, then went on to study a BA in Fine Art at Portsmouth Polytechnic from 1977-1980 and an MA Fine Art Printmaking at Chelsea College of Art from 1980-1981.

Married with two children, he lives and works in East London.

Martin lectures in the School of Architecture and The Visual Arts at the University of East London in Docklands and is currently the Programme Leader for the MA Contemporary Art and Design Practice.

In 2006 he instigated the AVA Drawing Research Group its aim, to bring together the diversity of drawing practice found in a School that includes: Architecture, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Photography, Moving Image, Animation, Illustration, Digital Media, Fashion Design and Textiles.

In 2007 he enrolled on the Professional Doctorate in Fine Art programme at UEL.

Current research activities include a series of video interviews of  prominent artists discussing the use of drawing within their practice.  These include; Granville Davey, Richard Wilson and Faisal Abdul-allah.