Judith Brodsky

"Why Do We Sleep?" Photo etching

Source: Miller, Lynn F and Swenson, Sally S. Lives and Works: Talks with Women Artists. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Metuchen, N.J., & London. 1981. pages 17-36.

Judith Brodsky was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1933. She was in love with drawing ever since she was little, but her parents felt it was important that she got a liberal arts education as well, so she attended Radcliffe, which had no major in studio, and studied Art History. Based on this experience, Judith "encourage[s] young people, if they want to be artists, to go to colleges first rather than to art schools, and then go to art schools after that. They have to have some ideas, and it helps to learn about literature and about history and about art history, and then go on and get involved in their own work more fully" (p. 17). Judith received her M.F.A. at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Judith always thought she would be a painter but fell in love with printmaking during her time at Tyler. She also found that her prints sold much more easily than her paintings.

Judith's work often involves creating imagery etched on metal plates. She describes her method as "not spontaneous, it's additive. I start out with an idea, and I like the idea, I like to rework the idea as I go along" (p.23). In the early 1980's, she liked to do etchings rich with saturated, flat color. Her later prints involved more appropriated imagery.

I enjoy the diversity among Judith's prints and am encouraged by her opinion that a liberal arts education can really help an artist in developing their own point and creating stronger work.