In addition to his artistic practice, Martin was widely known for his work as a longtime administrator and Professor Emeritus at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI).
In his final year of high school, Martin decided to major in Decorative Art at University of California, Berkeley after a teacher determined his interests were more creative than scientific, although he originally hoped to pursue a degree in Physics.
[5] Shortly after completing his graduate education, Martin was hired as the registrar of the Oakland Museum of Art, where he was also enlisted to help with various installation tasks.
During his time there, he informally helped build its world-renowned collection of California art, and encouraged then director Paul Mills to identify and exhibit a school of local artists.
Martin suggested his friends David Park, Elmer Bischoff and several other artists, who Mills eventually grouped together as leaders of the Bay Area Figurative Movement in a historic 1957 exhibition.
Assembling the works of painters, sculptors, and printmakers, including Otis Oldfield, David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Bruce Conner, Joan Brown, Jay DeFeo, and Wally Hedrick, Martin organized exhibitions of Bay Area artists at local and national galleries and museums between 1958 and 1965.
[14] In the late 1950s, Martin was loosely associated with a group of artists who were living and working in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco such as Jay DeFeo and Wally Hedrick, who were married, Joan Brown, Manuel Neri, Bernice Bing, and Deborah Remington.
[15] While Martin's exhibition was on view, the gallery hosted an evening of Beat poets, including Allen Ginsberg, who debuted his seminal poem Howl.