Biography
September,2024
JudithSalmon
BorninKingston,Jamaica,Judithisdedicatedtoart-making,creativeexplorations,teaching, learningandexhibiting.SheholdsaBA.,LiberalArts, (NorwichUniversity,Vermont);the MFAStudioArts(JohnsonStateCollege,VT) andaGraduateCertificateinMuseumStudies–fromUniversityofSouthFlorida,2011.Currentlysheisworkingtowardsasignificantsolo exhibition,herfirstinseveral years.
Herworkhasbeenwidelyexhibitedoverthelastfourdecades.Significantrecentexhibitions include: Cultural Routes –twoartistsconsidertheirpersonalandoverlappingstoriesof departureandreturninrelationtohome–atStudio620,St.PetersburgFl.(2016). Explorations 11- Seven Women Artists. AninvitationalbytheNationalGalleryofJamaica,reflectingonthe conundrumofwhetherornotwomens’onlyexhibitionsarevalidinthe21stcentury.Seven WomenArtistrespondedwithunquestionablypowerfulwork(2015). “Di Times Change”,Fine ArtPrintmakersrespondtoClimateChange–UWI,RegionalHeadquarters,Mona,(convened bySalmon,2022).
JudithservedasPresidentoftheJamaicanArtistsandCraftsmenGuild,1998organizingmany exhibitions,exchangesandsupportopportunitieswithandforartists. ShereceivedtheDawn ScottMemorialAwardfromtheNationalGalleryofJamaica,(forinnovationinprintmaking), 2019. ShewasguestlectureratMiamiDadeCollege,DepartmentofArtandPhilosophy,2018, onthetopic,“ArtandMemory”.Shealsopresentedherresearchatthebi-annualRexNettleford ArtsConference,EMCVPA-on,“ Printing and Making Prints,2017and Palimpsests: Erasing, Re-covering, Re-making, 2019.
JudithlivesandworksinKingston.
ArtistStatement
Art-makingis-unwindingthetangledskeinsofmemoryandhistory-creatingmeaningrelevant tothepersonal-now.
Myprimarymediaasavisualartistarepaintingandprintmakingandbygivingequalweightto boththeyhavebecomecriticaltomyprocess.Workingwithsmallhand-pulledprintsinitially,I havepushedthescale,techniquesandsurfacestoproducelargecollagedmatricesprintedon fabricorpaper. Myattemptstocreate greaterappreciationforprintmakinghaveledtoseveral groupexhibitionsinpublicvenues.
Oneopportunityforcreatingnewandrelevantmeaningcamewithmeetingtraditionalpotter, Ms.LouisaJones,(MaLou)inthe1980’s. Hand-coiledpotsandoutdoorwoodfiringwereher forte,hermethodsweresimilartothetraditionsinWestAfricancultures. Despitetheharsh conditionsofenslavement,thisknowledgewasretainedthroughgenerationsandfamilies. For methetangledthreadsofhistoryrelaxed-an‘aha’momentopenedtonurturemyinnerselfand myself-identity-itwasaSankofamoment.
Lifechangesandencountershaveledmetoplacesofgreaterflexibilityinart-making.Theloss ofmymother;migration-standinginthecrossroadsofchange;travellingtoSenegal,West Africawereamongthemostimpactful. Idiscoveredthatusingbeeswax,Icanspeakofabsence andpresence;thatnailingandhammeringareasnecessarytomyprocessascrochetingand stitching.Ifoundthattheordinarypiroguesonafisherman’sbeachinDakarweretriggersfor releasingadeepmemoryoflossandtheMiddlePassage.InstudioIpursuedtheiconographyof boatsasmodifiedsymbolsofforcedtransportation,ofjourney,exileandcrossings,througha longseriesofworksomeofwhicharepresentedinthisexhibition.