Painter & Weaver Judith Main is VIVA’s March Guest Artist!

A statement from the Artist:

How wonderful is this world in which we all live!  And yet,

How hard it is to be constantly full of confidence that the world is indeed a wonderful place.  

Living in the Driftless helps me to experience wonder. 

Being outside aware of birdsong and wind. 

Being aware of sunshine or its lack, watchful of clouds moving in the multicolored sky.  

All of this helps me realize I am part of something larger than myself.

I paint and weave and draw and journal because this work keeps me grounded in the wonder of life,

exploring texture and color and shape and form in the interior world of a weaver and the exterior world of a painter.

This show is my attempt to integrate the two: interior and exterior.

My weaving becomes a landscape, my energy hopes to make paint sing and cloth dance.

Judith’s Biography:

I am a painter and a weaver who lives in Viroqua, Wisconsin.  I am the mother of three industrious adults and the grandmother of three creative grandsons.

I have worked as a Peace Corps volunteer, scientific illustrator of mites, church catechist, and Montessori elementary schoolteacher.  I am retired now and most at home sitting at my loom weaving or outside on a mildly windy day on a big rock painting the landscapes or in my garden with the flowers.

I love textiles of all kinds, and colored yarns and colored pencils of all hues yet I currently have a soft spot for hand stitching improvisational quilts and working in journals.

Plus, answers to a few fun questions!

I work with gouache and watercolors and colored pencils because of their versatility and portability.  I often work in journals because I like keeping my painting organized sequentially and in one place.  My entire house has become my studio.  I work almost exclusively in natural light.  

I work speedily on paintings in order to maintain freshness.

I work fairly slowly on weaving.

I treasure surprises and unpredictability.  I do not like to know exactly how pieces will turn out.

I am a bit traditional and a bit modern in my approach.  I often depart from expected color combinations.