ARTIST STATEMENT
I work across a range of media: printmaking, painting and installation. My art is highly detailed, narrative and historic/ folkloric. I find ways to connect ancient mythologies and history with social justice and environmental issues in today’s world.
My installation, “Pillar of Light,” was commissioned by the University of Illinois Springfield as part of an artist fellowship. Twenty artists from around the state of Illinois participated in classes and shared insights to create new work about Abraham Lincoln and his legacy. The exhibit has been shown in several galleries around the state, including the Northern Illinois University Art Museum, shown here. Documentary films were made about each artist, discussing their work.
My woodcut, Birds on a Wire, celebrates the beauty of diverse individuality, which is under attack, politically and socially. My depiction of beautiful drag queens stands in for all people who are oppressed for their gender, religion, race or beliefs. The work was carved on a 30” square block and printed at a steamroller printing event.
My Mother’s Heart and Zaida in the Wheatfield express my feelings about my late mother and my grandfather (Zaida) who nearly perished in a pogrom in Poland in 1919.
© Judith Joseph