Professor Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire's career in art is a many faceted design related to being an artist/craftsman, educator, and Founder/Director of MINGEI INTERNATIONAL Museum of World Folk Art, dedicated to furthering the understanding of art of the people from all cultures of the world.

An international doll collection given to her at the age of five initiated Martha's awareness of the world. Traveling began at the early age of nine months when she came with her family by train from her birthplace in Oklahoma City to live in California. These early recollections were a precursor of Martha's later worldwide travel/study and collecting of ceramics and related art.