Artistic Designs By
Judi
Witkin
By: Audrey Levinson
I
met Judi Witkin, a master bead artist, in her studio at the Delavan Center. I always ask to meet where the art is because I realize that this is the most important place for that person to talk and describe what they are passionate about. In other words, it’s there, not in coffee shop or a park, for example, but it’s the place that allows the artist to think and visualize and ultimately express their inner artistic spirituality. I can see that. I can feel it there as well. I thought about this as I heard those words again “The best thing I ever did was to get this studio.” However, I don’t want to disqualify the artist who has the space to set up at home but even in that situation a part of the home has become “their” own corner of the world. Judi creates some of the most beautiful jewelry and beaded items that I have ever seen. Her work is minuscule, each tiny bead being stitched one at a time. The outcome is that her pieces are not minuscule but a grand design of color, shape and captivating beauty. In the end, these elements flow elegantly together. Judi told me that she is a fine motor person. She does not enjoy working with mediums who smear around like clay and paint, though she received her
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undergrad in painting at the College of Art in Philadelphia near where she grew up. She always played with art materials trying to find the one that spoke to her heart. One evening in February, Judi drove to Hamilton. She had a speaking engagement with the Hamilton Garden Club. Her trip did not go as planned. She was snowed in by one of our Nor’Easters and spent three days there. The president of the club in Hamilton, whom she stayed with happened to be a master beadier and taught Judi how to bead the peyote stitch and read a pattern. She considers those three days as finding her Rosetta Stone. From there she could create an endless array of beaded beauties using that stitch as a base. After she told me that story, I asked her if she still had the first piece she ever made. With a wide smile and sparkling eyes, she pulled a bracelet hanging in front of her and said she keeps it there always remembering her humble beginnings. She began to experiment and still does with what she could stitch around. Judith found she could stitch around just about anything. She showed me many examples of dried acrylic paint blobs that she scrapes from her husband’s studio (they really are
quite interesting), cabochons, antique buttons, fossils, and any kind of stone (the list goes on). She is also certified in PMC a substance that is 90% pure silver but is in the form of a clay before it’s fired. She creates small silicon molds and used them to form faces of people, animals, and objects with the PMC clay to bead around. She showed me two fabrics that she uses called soutache and shibori. Soutache is a trimming that has a history of being used to decorate Victorian dresses, military uniforms and is used in bookbinding as well. Shibori is a Japanese form of tie dying and comes in an array of colors and dye on fine silk. Judi’s work is so unique, and she is as happy with the infinite directions she can bead in as a painter is with her many colors and textures in paint. Judi’s work is currently at Studio 54 in Skaneateles, NY, Artmart (in the fall) in Syracuse, NY, the third weekend in July at Curbside in the town of Skaneateles, NY, and in August of 2017 at the Edgewood Gallery, Syracuse, NY. She is often in her studio 224 at Delavan Center, 501 West Fayette St., Syracuse or her website judi@thebeadershand. com.