Art Wall on Third

Mary Judge                                                                

Thinking in Print: New Works on Paper                      

4 September 2014 – 4 January 2015
Art Wall on Third Exhibition
The Art Collection, 3rd floor

Mid-Manhattan Library
40th Street @ 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10016
212-340-0871

The Art and Picture Collections at Mid-Manhattan Library present Thinking in Print: New Works on Paper a site-specific exhibition of unique relief prints on handmade paper produced  by artist Mary Judge in collaboration with Wildwood Press of St Louis, Missouri.

Rose Sky over the Plains, 68 x 35 inches, unique relief print on handmade paper, 2014

Rose Sky over the Plains, 68 x 35 inches, unique relief print on handmade paper, 2014 

Mary Judge describes her experience with Wildwood Press: “It is a unique opportunity to work in collaboration in a process that is outside my normal studio procedure and media, and for me it is a fertile one. Ideas developed on the press, reenter the studio work. It is a renewing and organic process. I arrive with general ideas, the press personnel interact with that and we agree on a way to move forward. There is an aspect of improvisation which I love and the limits of the print process become a positive feature of the process. I feel like I am in rich uncharted territory working with Wildwood Press and as a result have produced some of my best work there.”

Maryanne Ellison Simmons, publisher and Master Printer, describes the mission of Wildwood Press: “We are dedicated to experimentation and the unexpected, the prints from Wildwood Press strive to redefine what a print can be. The role of the printer/publisher of contemporary prints is to facilitate the possible. When the collaborative process is working at its best, both the artist and the printer teach each other something new with every project—a principle embraced at Wildwood Press.”  Wildwood Press works with a select group of artists, over the lifetime of their career.  This is their second collaboration with Mary Judge.

Artist and educator Kate Teale joins Mary Judge for An Artist Dialogue series event, on Saturday December 6 at 2:30 p.m. inside the Corner Room.

Art Wall on Third exhibition series is curated by Arezoo Moseni.

Artist Statement

The print work on view is about mystic image-space based on classic proportions expressed through a refined application of the media and forms. Drawn and minimally painted elements combine to create a tightly layered picture space. As opposed to my paintings, these works on handmade paper are minimal in appearance and structure. The viewer must come in close contact with the work to experience and get a true sense of the subtleties and materiality. Symmetry is used to balance and multiply the overall effect, and handmade paper plays a strong supporting role setting the stage for what happens to the front and back of the work. We often work on both sides of the paper, “mining” as it were, a deeper level of layered space.
 
The inspiration for these paintings is the architecture of ancient ritual spaces, such as underground Tumulus, and a love of the constructs of traditional perspective and illusionism, blended together to create its own topography.  I hope to create a mystic and immersive experience through minimal and refined materiality.

Rose Window Series no. 065, 20 x 20 inches, digital print, 2003-2014
Rose Window Series no. 065, 20 x 20 inches, digital print, 2003-2014

Mary Judge lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and St Louis, Missouri. She first showed her work at The Drawing Center and has a long career with a focus on works on paper. She taught drawing for many years at Parsons School of Design and now focuses full time on her studio work. She received her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design and her MFA from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia and Rome, Italy and also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has been the recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Grant, The  Mid  Atlantic  Council  for  the  Arts  Grant  and  a  Dieu Donne  Workshop grant. Judge was Associate Professor of Studio Methods, at Parsons School of Design where she taught for many years. Her work is included in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Fogg Museum, The Corcoran Museum, The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as many private collections.  She is currently Director of Schema Projects, a gallery specializing in works on paper of all kinds, in all fields, in her Brooklyn storefront property.