# Judith Lodge

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{{Short description|American Canadian painter and photographer}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Judith Lodge
| image         = 
| imagesize     = 
| alt           = 
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1941|7|25}}
| birth_place   = [Saint Paul, Minnesota](/source/Saint_Paul%2C_Minnesota), U.S.
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| field         = Painting, drawing, photography
| training      = 
| movement      = Abstract expressionism
| works         = 
| patrons       = 
| influenced by = 
| influenced    = 
| awards        = 
| elected       = 
| website       = {{URL|www.jlodgearts.com}}
}}
'''Judith Lodge''' (born July 25, 1941) is an [American](/source/Americans) [Canadian](/source/Canadians) painter and photographer who often explores how the two mediums play off of and inform one another.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=JUDITH LODGE|title=Judith Lodge Artist|date=2013-07-11|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-7t71vM2Dk|access-date=2018-03-11}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/judith-lodge|title=Judith Lodge|website=www.gallery.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-03-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719144416/https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/judith-lodge|archive-date=2018-07-19|url-status=live}}</ref> Her [abstract](/source/Abstract_art) portraits of memories, situations, events, and people are inspired by the unconscious, dreams, journals, and nature.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|title=Paintings about being in contact with a greater self|last=Johnson|first=Eve|date=September 29, 1986|work=Vancouver Sun}}</ref> She has worked in [Vancouver](/source/Vancouver), [Victoria](/source/Victoria%2C_British_Columbia), [Toronto](/source/Toronto), [Banff](/source/Banff%2C_Alberta), [Minnesota](/source/Minnesota), and [New York](/source/New_York_(state)), where she has lived for more than thirty years.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.jlodgearts.com/resume.html|title=Resume|website=JLODGEARTS.COM|language=en|access-date=2018-03-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312084039/http://www.jlodgearts.com/resume.html|archive-date=2018-03-12|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Background ==
Lodge was one of four daughters born to Jean Lodge in [Saint Paul, Minnesota](/source/Saint_Paul%2C_Minnesota).<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Life Jackets|last=Allison|first=Glenn|publisher=New West Press Co. Ltd.|year=1986|isbn=0-88865-348-4|location=University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver}}</ref> Her father, James, was a [chemist](/source/chemist) at [3M](/source/3M) who enjoyed throwing pots in his free time and built a tiny studio in the basement of their home.<ref name=":4" /> From as early as the fourth grade, she would bring a large pad of paper to class and tell people, "You make a mark, I’ll make a drawing from it."<ref name=":4" /> She completed a [Bachelor of Science](/source/Bachelor_of_Science) at [Macalester College](/source/Macalester_College) in St. Paul (1963).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> She received a [Master of Fine Arts](/source/Master_of_Fine_Arts) from [Cranbrook Academy of Art](/source/Cranbrook_Academy_of_Art) in [Bloomfield Hills](/source/Bloomfield_Hills%2C_Michigan), [Michigan](/source/Michigan) (1965), where she was the only woman in a class of 12.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> In the summer following her MFA graduation, Lodge made numerous trips to New York City, where she attended large [Alberto Giacometti](/source/Alberto_Giacometti) and [Francis Bacon](/source/Francis_Bacon_(artist)) retrospectives.<ref name=":4" /> These exhibitions were greatly influential on Lodge as they exposed her to approaches in art practice which were not being taken up by the Cranbrook school at that time.<ref name=":4" />

== Artistic career ==
In 1972, Lodge moved to Vancouver, where she would spend the next decade, and began to work less figuratively than in earlier years.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> In Vancouver, she was friends with many women who were active in the [women's movement](/source/Feminist_movement).<ref name=":4" /> She had her first entirely non-figurative solo exhibition in 1977 at the Surrey Art Gallery.<ref name=":2" /> At some point, Lodge expected to return to figurative work but became preoccupied by the technical and [aesthetic](/source/Aesthetics) possibilities of the abstract format.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|title=Portrait of an artist|last=Scott|first=Andrew|date=February 3, 1978|work=Vancouver Sun}}</ref> Her inspiration from nature is greatly credited to time spent on an island off the coast of Vancouver, which was partly owned by a friend.<ref name=":0" /> Here, she explored landscapes and notions of water.<ref name=":0" /> Although Lodge returned to the United States in 1980, moving to New York after finding Vancouver a discouraging place for artists, she continually aims to recreate the feeling of nature in British Columbia.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> Lodge notes how dreams and unconsciousness bring things to one's attention, and claims she began making painted [mandala](/source/mandala)s out of nowhere before finding out she had [cancer](/source/cancer).<ref name=":0" /> Following her diagnosis, [chemotherapy](/source/chemotherapy), and surgery, Lodge became attracted to photographing trees which had been struck by fire yet were still alive, stating that she felt akin to them.<ref name=":0" /> These damaged [arbutus](/source/arbutus) trees can be seen in the series ''Trees Hit by Lightening and Other Fires''.<ref name=":0" />

== Style ==
Lodge's monumental abstract works, sometimes as large as 10'x16', partially derive from 1950s [abstract expressionism](/source/abstract_expressionism).<ref name=":2" /> She typically utilizes a [painterly](/source/Painterliness) style where thick layers and ropes of [acrylic paint](/source/acrylic_paint) are built up in an almost three-dimensional [topography](/source/topography), reminiscent of [vein](/source/vein)s or [sinews](/source/Tendon) upon the surface of skin.<ref name=":2" /> The texture is built up in three or four steps and certain areas may be reworked in the process.<ref name=":2" /> Lodge often uses metallic gold, significantly in works from the "Life Jackets" and "Walls of Eden" exhibitions, symbolic of incorruptibility and [sacred](/source/sacred)ness, and confronting its audience rather than receding.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite news|title=Gold the key for Vancouver artist: Lodge reaches for the divine.|last=Perry|first=Art|date=November 25, 1977|work=Vancouver Province}}</ref> She also tends to employ a strong sense of grid organization, as seen in the enormous works from "Walls of Eden."<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />

== Themes ==
<blockquote>"As a kid in a museum it looks like there is everything to talk about and paint, but it turns out that there are really only a few things. The seductive part about being a painter, I find, is that life is not a candy jar but rather there are a few central issues toward which one directs one’s life. I can remember being in high school when I first saw a reproduction of the [Gauguin](/source/Paul_Gauguin), […] ''[Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going](/source/Where_Do_We_Come_From%3F_What_Are_We%3F_Where_Are_We_Going%3F)''… well, there it was—profound philosophic content painted and then restated in words right on the canvas in the most direct and flatfooted war. I was astounded. Certainly, the notion that there are major primal subjects to be dealt with in the subconscious, in myth, in dreams, etc. is part of my painting heritage" - Judith Lodge<ref name=":4" /> </blockquote>Lodge's paintings demonstrate how the boundary between conscious and unconscious can be a [permeable membrane](/source/Semipermeable_membrane).<ref name=":2" /> Along with the world of nature and recalling images from life and the unconscious, other topics Lodge addresses in her work include, concerns with intersecting and overlapping areas of change; the eternal and the intangible; documentation of life energies, of what is seen, felt, and remembered; the notion of beauty as not fixed; and beauty tinged with terror and decomposition.<ref name=":0" />

== Professional activity ==
* 1969–1972 - Instructor: Painting and Drawing, [Skidmore College](/source/Skidmore_College), [Saratoga Springs](/source/Saratoga_Springs%2C_New_York), New York
* 1969 - Instructor: Painting and Drawing, [Vancouver School of Art](/source/Vancouver_School_of_Art) Summer School 
* 1970–1971 - Instructor: Painting and Drawing, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
* 1972–1977 - Instructor: Painting and Drawing, [Banff School of Fine Arts](/source/Banff_School_of_Fine_Arts), Banff, Alberta
* 1975–1976 - Visiting Artist: Banff School of Fine Arts, Banff, Alberta (to 1980), Visiting Artist: [Minneapolis School of Art](/source/Minneapolis_School_of_Art), Visiting Artist: Macalester College, Visiting Artist: [University of Victoria](/source/University_of_Victoria), Victoria, British Columbia
* 1976–1977 - Instructor: Painting and Drawing, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Instructor: Painting and Drawing, [University of British Columbia](/source/University_of_British_Columbia), Vancouver, British Columbia
* Assistant Professor: Painting and Drawing, [College of St. Rose](/source/College_of_Saint_Rose), Albany, New York
* Instructor, Lecturer, Visiting Artist: Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, British Columbia 
* Visiting Artist: [York University](/source/York_University), Toronto, Ontario 
* 1993–2006 - Associate Chair: Illustration, [Parsons School of Design](/source/Parsons_School_of_Design), New York <ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title=Canvas and Paper Targets|last=Holmes|first=Willard|date=1978 |publisher=Art Gallery of Greater Victoria|isbn=0-88885-024-7}}</ref>

== Exhibitions ==
* 1971 - Hathorn Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York <ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" />
* 1972 - Wheelock College, [Boston](/source/Boston), Massachusetts
* 1973 - [Bau-Xi Gallery](/source/Bau-Xi_Gallery), Vancouver, British Columbia
* 1974 - Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
* 1975 - Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
* 1977 - Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, British Columbia<ref>{{cite web|first1=City of|last1=Surrey|access-date=2019-03-18|title=Surrey Art Gallery|url=http://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/1537.aspx|website=www.surrey.ca|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308081054/https://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/1537.aspx|archive-date=2019-03-08|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1977 - ''Walls of Eden,'' Pender Street Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
* 1977 - ''From This Point of View'' (Group Show), [Vancouver Art Gallery](/source/Vancouver_Art_Gallery), Vancouver, British Columbia
* 1978 - ''Targets,'' Victoria Art Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia
* 1978 - ''Fire, Smoke, Water, Ice,'' Art Core, Vancouver, British Columbia
* 1979 - ''Rites of Passage,''  Art Core, Vancouver, British Columbia
* 1984 - ''Recent Drawings and Paintings,'' Peter Whyte Gallery, Banff, Alberta
* 1986 - ''Life Jackets,'' University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

== Grants/awards ==
* Canada Council Grant<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" />

== Collections ==
* Art Gallery of Greater Victoria<ref>{{Cite web |title=Judith Lodge – People – eMuseum |url=http://localhost:88/emuseum/people/3396/judith-lodge;jsessionid=21C6203564B172D222FD0D55C876D3EF |access-date=2026-03-05 |website=localhost |language=en}}</ref>
* Canada Council Art Bank<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canada Council Art Bank |url=https://artbank.ca/art-piece/wall-window-trapeze-78_9-0348?author=Lodge%20Judith&name=Wall%20Window%20Trapeze%20%20%20%20%20&year=1978#f:@category_e=Painting}}</ref>
* Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver<ref>{{Cite web |title=Permanent Collection: Works from the 1970s |url=https://cagvancouver.org/exhibition/permanent-collection:-works-from-the-1970s |access-date=2026-03-05 |website=Contemporary Art Gallery}}</ref>
* [National Gallery of Canada](/source/National_Gallery_of_Canada)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search the Collection |url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/search-the-collection |access-date=2026-03-05 |website=www.gallery.ca |language=en}}</ref>
* [Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery](/source/Morris_and_Helen_Belkin_Art_Gallery)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belkin Art Gallery Collections |url=https://collection.belkin.ubc.ca/Detail/entities/2557}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />

== Further reading ==
* "This Gathering," Jane Rule, ''Canadian Fiction Magazine'', Autumn 1976.
* "Eve at the Walls." Jane Rule, ''Vanguard'', March 1977.
* "Eden Walls." David McWilliam, ''Criteria'', November 1978.
* "Recent Drawings." ''Capilano Review'', No. 12, 1977.
*''YVR—Vancouver in Review'', No. 2, March 1978.

== External links ==
* {{Official website|www.jlodgearts.com}}
* [https://www.gallery.ca/collection/search-the-collection?search_api_views_fulltext=judith+lodge&sort_by=search_api_relevance National Gallery of Canada]
* Works in the [http://belkin.pastperfectonline.com/search?utf8=✓&search_criteria=%22lodge+judith%22&searchButton=Search Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery]
* [https://www.thecapilanoreview.ca/issues/issue-1-12/ The Capilano Review]
* [http://www.med.ubc.ca/belkin-curator-discusses-new-course-combining-art-and-medicine/ UBC Medicine]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodge, Judith}}
Category:20th-century American photographers
Category:20th-century Canadian photographers
Category:Artists from New York (state)
Category:Academic staff of the University of British Columbia
Category:Artists from Saint Paul, Minnesota
Category:1941 births
Category:Living people
Category:Canadian women photographers
Category:American women photographers
Category:21st-century American photographers
Category:21st-century Canadian photographers
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:American women academics
Category:21st-century American women artists
Category:20th-century Canadian women artists
Category:21st-century Canadian women artists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Judith Lodge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Lodge) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Lodge?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.