Judy Woodborne

Woodborne is a printmaker and painter. She obtained her B.A.F.A from Michaelis School of Fine Art in 1988; an advanced Diploma in Printmaking awarded with Distinction in 1989, and was awarded her Master of Fine Arts Degree with Distinction from UCT in 1993. She currently runs her own printmaking studio, Intagliostudio teaching classes, workshops and curating exhibitions and projects

Woodborne completed residencies at the Grafische Werkstatt im Traklhaus, (Austria) as well as taking part in collaborative printmaking portfolios with artist/curator Jan Jordaan, working on the Break the Silence  HIV Campaign,  Art for Humanity, Woman Artists supporting Children's' Rights Campaign; Playing Card Portfolio curated by Veerle Rooms, Playing Card Museum, Belgium and Body Politic portfolio in collaboration with Prof. Teresa Cole, Tulane University, USA. Woodborne was selected as the ABSA Klein Karroo Kunsfees Festival Artist in 2007 and produced a body of paintings entitled The Garden of Eden.  She curated and published a portfolio of 16 etchings, The Exquisite Corpse, selected for the Klein Karoo Kunsfees 2009. She has participated in many International Print Biennales and her work is represented in International Public Collections and Museums. She was invited to present an exhibition titled "Alternative Histories" at the Salzburg Summer Festival in the Hohensalzburg Castle in 2015. Her recent series of paintings "The Elements" are inspired by her journeys and portray a concern regarding the environmental issues we face in this millennium. A  print exhibition held at Lizamore and Associates in 2018 showed a selection of experimental prints constructions - "The Anatomy of the World" series. 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".

She was a guest curator for the Woordfees 2018 and 2019 and presented a print portfolio of 14 artists under the theme "Endless Horizon" for the Festival in 2018, and "Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow" for the 2019 Festival. Woodborne was selected for the IPCNY's curated Summer 2020 exhibition "Give me Space" and was one of the 10 shortlisted artists for Art on Paper Contest 2021, Barcelona, Spain. She created a series of unique paper constructions for her solo exhibition in June 2021, titled "Metamorphoses and Mythology" held at Lizamore & Associates.

 Artist's Statement for Printmaking Works

“My work is inspired by symbolism, mythologies and literature combined with an interest in the natural sciences. Hayden Proud (Curator at Iziko Museum, Cape Town, S.A) has described my work as "symbolist", implying that the creative process I employ comprises many layers. 

 In my printmaking process, I have departed from the tradition of creating an image on copper plate or relief block finalising the design and then printing an edition. Instead, I create a number of images or prototypes and use these multiple images facilitated by printmaking to create 3 dimensional paper sculptures. Each work is unique and not part of an edition as such”.