Monday, November 17, 2008

Legacy of Life Endured in the Light of Lightweight PR



November 17, 2008



I have not made many thoughtful entries in this particular blog as well as my other blogs recenty, partly because life
has taken hold of me and driven me to pursue other avenues of communication.



I am trying to be practical and pursue marketing my artwork and my arts administration opportunities, while I paint on deadlines for
exhibition's where I intend to sell my work. I arrange exhibitions for other artists and serve as a website facilitator for a gallery while at the same time I am starting an entirely new business this fall which is in itself an exciting adventure. In addition, I have a son who as a senior in high school needs my chauffeuring to his events like football practice, games until he positions himself to acquire his driver's license.etc.


Part of me is very glad I am dizzyingly busy. So busy, I cannot feel the separation of growing children as acutely. My life had been my children, my family. Discussion and activism in geopolitical issues or developing a body of artwork and even building my new company hold a measure of importance in my life. They, I understand have their particular unique fascination, but I recognize that they do not nor cannot occupy the same place in my heart and dreams as do the people in my family, my kin. Even as I have tried to fill my life with these other things, my longing for my family being a community one in spirit and heart has never diminished. The pain of my family’s growing diaspora gnaws at my soul, draining the life from me. The more I do to bring things together the more acutely aware I am of my family member’s desire to be removed from one another, their home and their roots, their parents. Perhaps this is just an inevitable but passing transition into adulthood for them. But I wonder if it is in fact what I have come to see it as that fruit of the fickle reward of wealth, education and upward mobility, the dream of the American way. Little did we know how much we cast aside when we set our children on the American path of success when we should have inculcated love and tenderness toward one another rather than ambition and adventure.


How does this relate to my art? My technical art skill has improved greatly over the years.. My art imagery has not drawn its ideas from my family as much as from the dream of community lived in the light of truth and love.


I am afraid to place my mind’s eye on the pain of separation for hours on end while I focus on meticulously painting of a “telling story of separation and fracture.” Besides who wants to buy a painting of a “telling a story of separation and fracture?”


Besides for mental survival, I favor keeping my heart and mind on “hope” of renewal and restoration. Neverthless, I prefer living in the truth of the moment rather than making life's reality with mere good PR of putting on a happy face.


Lately I think I may have a new opportunity to “tell the truth in a life story full of pathos amidst hope,” now that my mother, who is in her declining mid eighty’s, has come to stay with me for an extended visit. I see I can compassionately tell a story of separation and fracture.” Somehow, this story, which is so real before me in its human frailty, is striking with hope and beauty because I can be a part of her life at this time. I can laugh and cry and with her and she with me.



I will, in the next months, begin drawing and painting her and her aging friends and surviving brother, etching lines in a legacy of friendship and endurance that I have been privileged to experience through the life of my mother, whom my children have called “Grandma.”


Judith





Monday, June 23, 2008

Judith Reidy in Three Fabulous Exhibits- Presenting the Stars and Getting to Know You and Judith Reidy's Plein Air and and Drawing Exhibit




Judith Reidy's work is showing in three

concurrent exhibits:


See
Judith Reidy's 2008 Museum of Wisconsin Art Award of Excellence piece
"Solemnity"
a studio pastel from her Mist series
In
The League of Milwaukee Artists

PRESENTING THE STARS

June 26 through August 15, 2008
OPENING RECEPTION
Thursday, June 26 from 6 to 8 pm

Schlueter Art Gallery and Atrium
Center for Arts and Performance


Wisconsin Lutheran College

8800 West Bluemound Road


Milwaukee, WI 53226


wlc.com
****************************
Summer Gallery hours M-F 9am -4pm
Closed holidays







and see Judith's disconcerting quirky piece of a pondering woman in a mist in



"Under the Red Umbrella"





In The League of Milwaukee Artists Exhibit



"Getting to Know You"



Mount Mary Exhibit, Milwaukee, WI



June 8 - July 19, 2008



Reception June 15, 2008

St. Marks Hall Gallery of Judith Reidy's Plein Air Paintings and Home Drawings



St Marks on Belleview and Hackett on Milwaukee's Eastside


May 3- June 29, 2009


Reception May 30, 2009 1- 2:30 pm

Award Winning Plein Air Painting of Classic Milwaukee Eastside Corner, " Looking East on Belleview"


Looking East on Belleview



Looking East on Belleview

is a classic. Sun dappled walks that lead to Lake Park on an late spring early afternoon welcome the friend of Milwaukee's fine neighborhoods. These city sidewalks invite them on a refreshing meander lost in the peace and pleasure in meeting others on their stroll. Everywhere a feast for the eyes in a return to the best of city living.

This award winning Plein Air Painting by Judith Reidy of the city's Eastside was sold at the Downer Avenue Plein Air event in May 2008. The Plein Air event was sponsored by the League of Milwaukee Artists, The Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors and the Downer Avenue Merchants. 30% of the proceeds went to Artist Working in Education. AWE is a nonprofit organization that sponsors artists to work creatively with children to enhance human potential, advance learning and cultivate community. Judith and the other artists find it rewarding to be able to contribute to the AWE effort.

Hackett Looking North, Plein Air painting of Milwaukee's Eastside


Hackett Looking North



This Plein Air painting created during the last week of May 2008, during the Downer Avenue Plein Air Painting Competition is a companion piece to the work "Looking East on Belleview".


This cityscape painting, "Hackett Looking North" shows the classic Milwaukee Eastside neighborhood lined with lush canopy of trees covering walks edged by gardened lawns. This morning light cityscape captures the cool shadows over the path which can lead to shops or the expansive Lake Park within minutes.


This painting was sold at the silent auction of the Plein Air event. 30% of the sale, the artist Judith donated to Artist Working in Education, a nonprofit organization that sponsors artists to work creatively with children to enhance human potential, advance learning and cultivate community.
Would you like a painting of your neighborhood community? Contact Judith.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Wisconsin Percent for Art Direct Purchase of Judith Reidy's work "Looking up into Nicolet Forest"


January 9, 2008
Judith Reidy has more great news. One of my artworks have been selected for permanent display through the Percent for Art Direct Purchase Program. My piece, Looking up into Nicolet Forest, has been chosen by the DNR's North East Regional Headquarters located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. My artwork will join The State of Wisconsin Collection, a growing collection of publicly owned artworks acquired since the Percent for Art Program began in 1980.

I can’t tell you how delighted I am by the news. I have been told that the piece, with my name plate near the bottom of the frame will hang in the public eye for over 30 years, viewed by thousands of people.

I have had this piece in several shows and have always kept it in my favorite viewing place. Being one of my favorite pieces because I can get lost in the tree tops, I was a bit sad that I was going to lose this “ friend.” I am happy that it will be going to a new home at the DNR office headquarters in Northeastern Wisconsin in Green Bay. Knowing the forest will be enjoyed by those who love the woods, gives me untold pleasure.
Wed 1/16/2008 8:29 AM

Dear Judith,

Congratulations on the purchase. In the interests of full disclosure, I was on the selection panel that chose the works that were available to state agencies! Your work was well deserving of selection and that it was purchased was a testament to its quality: we looked at almost 900 works by 186 artists in 5 1/2 hours! Our selections were then made available to the agencies.

Thanks for all your help with the LMA show. The reception was well attended and went well. I'm very happy with the show.

With best wishes,

Graeme

Graeme Reid
Assistant DirectorMuseum of Wisconsin Art
300 South Sixth Avenue
West Bend, WI 53095

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Video view from Sandrock Hostel at Malin Head on Inishownen Peninsula, Ireland

My trip in Ireland form Belfast

Downtown

What a trip it has been since last November 20, 2008 when I flew off to Ireland for a visit with my daughter in Belfast and a seven day stay in the secluded peninsula of Inishowen at Malin Head the northern most point of Ireland. To the north on a clear day one can see Scotland. To the south one sees sheep pasture lands covering bony green hills receding into the horizon.

I first will show you a few pictures of Belfast where I visited my daughter. Then I will take you for a ride into the country and to Malin Head and my little hostel Sandrock Hostel, where I sat 50 yards from the bay watching the weather change the sky and the seas and the earth by the hour.

I would return there in a heartbeat for another painting trip. I had a huge shared kitchen with a attached sitting room with a wood burning stove where I kept a warm pot of tea ready while I painted at the bay window overlooking the bay to the south that cut into the land from the Atlantic ocean to the North.

From this one spot I could see the sun rise and set on any given day. I watched the tides rise and fall exposing the rocky shore and its sea creatures.
As I slept I could hear the rush of the wind and the pounding of the waves upon the shore.
I slept like a babe.
Take a look and enjoy.

Near Anna's apartment

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Leaving early to find the Country


on the way to Londonderry ( Derry)


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Londonderry, Northern Ireland


Outside the old city wall
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at Last at Malin Head at Sandrock Hostel at dawn



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More Dawn Overlooking the Bay




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In a pub the ale has cloverleaves



the second home


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A short way for the Pub overlooking the Atlantic


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A Stroll along the tip of the Peninsula






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Another hike





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The simple life





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