DEVILS OF DESERET & OTHER DEVIATIONS

My work is informed by a long lifetime of experience -- physical, intellectual, and emotional -- not all of which has been positive or productive. I continue to be influenced by primitive and prehistoric art, especially that of the Aztec, and by the life of the natural world, especially the Utah deserts and the bird preserves of the Great Salt Lake. Most recently I have mined the symbolism of contemporary superstitions, as illustrated by my devil masks.

I retired from the practice of law in 1999 and began my work in clay two years later. I am largely self-taught. All of my work is hand built, using coil and pinch methods, much slower than with a wheel, but allowing a greater range of form. I typically carve or incise my pieces and apply oxides, rather than glazes, before reduction firing to cone 10. I do not use casts and molds. I make no copies; each piece is an original.

I began printmaking several years ago and resumed painting in earnest after my retirement.

Recent exhibits of my work include:
Art Barn at Finch Lane one person show, 2005
World of the Wild group show 2006
Bountiful-Davis Art Center CAU group show, 2006 Contemporary Art Gallery CAU group show, 2006 Phillips Gallery group summer show 2006
Red Kiln one person show 2006.
Two pieces published in 500 ANIMALS IN CLAY, Grove Press, 2006. Guest artist Utah Arts Festival 2006, .

Judith Romney Wolbach