A 1971 trip to the American Southwest and a single American Indian jewelry purchase at the Museum of Northern Arizona instilled a new passion in Marti. From that time on, she dedicated her life’s work to the American Indian art business. Among the most notable highlights of her career, Marti:

• Spent 46 years assembling a first-rate Southwestern American Indian art collection.
• Established the Indian Tree Gallery in 1976 Chicago featuring historic and contemporary American Indian jewelry, pottery, Katsinas (Kachina dolls), weavings, paintings, and other fine works of art.
• Focused on identifying especially promising young and rising Native American artists, assisting them in developing their careers.
• Organized many one-artist shows in her Chicago and Santa Fe galleries.
• Conducted more than 65 American Indian art field trips since 1960, visiting Pueblo and Navajo artists, often in remote areas across the Southwest.

• Authored books on the work of Dextra Quotskuyva, among the most famous of contemporary Pueblo potters, and on Charles Loloma, the foremost contemporary American Indian jeweler.
• Served as guest curator of Southwestern Indian pottery and jewelry exhibitions in Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Santa Fe.
• Relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico to operate as a private art dealer in the hub of the Southwestern Native American art world. You can still visit Marti's online American Indian art gallery now.
• Researched extensively and lectured widely on the history of Southwestern American Indian art.
• Attained recognition as one of the principal American Indian art scholars in the field today.
• Received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award granted by the Antique Tribal Art Dealer Association for contributing to the understanding and preservation of tribal art.