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Body Songs revisits a powerful body of work that
has been hidden away from the public eye for the past 15 years. The majority
of Judith's work involves drawing the female figure. It raises issues of
multiple aspects of relationship (including power, vulnerability, the
connection between interior and exterior); the politics of naked vs. nude;
the wisdom of the body; working from life; and the nature of the drawing
experience.
DOWN TO THE STUDS
My childhood home was surrounded by a Chicago suburb being built in the
farmland. We kids played in the half-built houses, in and out of the studs.
In my older farmhouse, my parents were knocking down walls and exposing
the architectural bones, shifting the underlying framework, and building
back up to the surface. I was transfixed by the process; I didn't like
things finished and cleaned up.
-- Judith Roode
Fascinated with revealing structure, Judith describes her
drawing process as building from the inside out. Yet it also seems to me that
she takes bodies apart, separating linkages, unhooking them from time and
place, a bit like a dictionary where words, removed from conversation, have
their roots revealed. Judith depicts the knuckles of a hand with such
architectural rigor that they look like barnacles or beehives. These are not
Emersonian correspondence, tending toward mysticism, but an emphasis on the
thing itself, pressed into consciousness, dug down into complication,
refusing to be waylaid or appropriated.
Excerpt from TEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT JUDITH ROODE'S DRAWINGS, an essay by
Margot Fortunato Galt in the exhibition brochure for Judith Roode's BODY SONGS
BIOGRAPHY
Judith Roode (B.A., Grinnell College; M.F.A., University of Iowa) has
exhibited her figure drawings in invitational exhibitions at such
institutions as: The Women's Interact Center, New York City; Art Institute
of Boston; Cincinnati Art Museum; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; and in a
Kentucky Arts Commission traveling exhibition. Her work is published in
Nathan Goldstein's 5th edition of The Art of Responsive Drawing (Simon &
Schuster, 1999) and A Drawing Handbook (Prentice Hall, 1986). Her work
is included in the collections of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Institute of Arts, Weisman Art Museum, Tweed Museum and the Minnesota
Historical Society. In 1992 she retired as a Professor from the
Minneapolis College of Art and Design due to a debilitating illness.
ARTIST TALKS IN THE GALLERY
Monday, Feb. 18, 7-8 p.m.
Building an Aesthetic Realm
Artist and curator Mary Esch will lead a discussion about Judith Roode’s work and philosophy in the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery.
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 3-4 p.m.
Body Songs:
A 25-Year Retrospective, 1967-1991
The artist Judith Roode will talk about her work in the Lecture Hall, Room 102 of the Visual Arts Building.
Thursday, Feb. 28, 7-8 p.m.
Building an Aesthetic Realm
Artist and curator Mary Esch will lead a discussion about Judith Roode’s work and philosophy in the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery.
All lectures are free and open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to come early to view the exhibition before the gallery talks. For more information, call 651-690-6644.
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