Judy Woodborne

JUDY WOODBORNE (1966 -)

BIO

Judy Woodborne is a printmaker and painter. Intrigued by symbolism, mythologies, literature, and the natural sciences she uses these themes as inspiration and reference in her works. Woodborne re-thinks printmaking and its multiple nature, due to editions, by using the varying techniques to create dimensional paper sculptures, each one unique and not necessarily part of an edition. The engagement with natural sciences appears in her paintings wherein the artists is interested in the water not just as element but as a signifier and representation for other matters of time, death, birth, and re-incarnation.

Born in Cape Town, Woodborne runs her own printmaking studio. She received her BA Fine Arts from Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT, in 1988; a postgraduate advanced diploma with distinction in Printmaking, UCT, in 1989 and her Master of Fine Arts at Michaelis, in 1993 with distinction. Recent solo exhibitions include The Anatomy of the World, in 2018 and Imaginarium, Metamorphosis and Mythology, in 2021 both at Lizamore & Associates, Johannesburg. Group exhibitions include Art on Paper, Kalk Bay Modern and Phantasmagoria: an exhibition curated by Woodborne for Riebeek Kasteel Contemporary Summer Exhibition.

She completed residencies at the Grafische Werkstatt im Traklhaus, (Austria), visited printmaking workshops in the UK, stayed at the Cite des Artes in Paris, travelled through Indo-Tibet, Argentina, Antarctic Peninsula and completed a residency at Café Tissardmine in Morroco (2019). She has taken part in collaborative printmaking portfolios; “Break the Silence” HIV Campaign, “Art for Humanity”; “Playing Card Portfolio” and “Body Politic” portfolio (in collaboration with Prof. Teresa Cole, Tulane University, USA). She was the ABSA KKKunsfees Festival Artist in 2007 and published a portfolio of 16 etchings, “The Exquisite Corpse” for the Kunsfees, 2009. She presented an exhibition titled "Alternative Histories" at the Salzburg Summer Festival in 2015. She was a guest curator for the Woordfees 2018 and 2019 and published a print portfolio of 14 artists - "Endless Horizon" and "Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow". She was awarded the prize of S.C. Bes Romania S.R.L. in the International Contemporary Engraving Biennial, Romania in 2020 for her engraving "The Weaver". Her 3 dimensional print construction; “Fabula Mirabilis” was selected for the IPCNY's curated Summer 2020 exhibition "Give me Space" and she was one of the 10 shortlisted artists for Art on Paper Contest 2021, Barcelona, Spain. Her engraving “Axis Mundi – World Tree” was awarded the Celommi Award (special mention) in the Third International Engraving Biennale held in Teramo, Italy 2023. Woodborne has participated in many International Print Biennales and her work is held in multiple local and international collections including the IZIKO South African National Gallery in Cape Town and the Smithsonian Institution (The National Museum of African Art) in Washington.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I work in the traditional medium of printmaking and have developed my technique to use multiples, facilitated by the print medium, in order to construct 3 dimensional paper sculptures. Inherent in my work are references to mythology, word-play and a visual layering of symbols. My recent large format constructions incorporate references to board games such as “Moksha Patam” (snakes and ladders), chess symbols such as “The Queen”, visual play on the Japanese “Pillow Book” and selected literary references. My sculptures play with printing on different matrices to create a layering of transparent images over linocut and etchings combined with paper cutting, digital collage and the use of entomology pins to secure fragile structures to the backing board and create dimension. I use my collection of prints and images as a lexicon to create, collage and layer in a unique method of constructing printmaking sculptures. I do not make pictures; I make sculptures of my imagination.