Biography
I am an Jerusalem-based American artist who draws on the spiritual when confronting the political. My paintings, drawings, artist’s books, multimedia collages and essays aim to celebrate, as well as question, to berate and poke a finger at, how utterly unpredictable and unintelligible, LIFE is. My sense of identity and the essence of my art, spring from a life-long feminist consciousness, a radical educational philosophy of deschooling society, commitment to counter-culture social activism, and an extreme engagement with and ambivalence about religious tradition, especially, but not exclusively Judaism. Mostly, I love to look at, and am often healed, by how things look. BOOKS are my preferred artform. The adventurous details of my biography are reflected in my art. Drawing what I see and publishing the results has been the focus of my creative life. Teaching, it turns out, is also a calling.
Curriculum
Education
Bachelor of Fine Art Painting/Media Graphics, U. of Southern California, LA, CA 1986
Batchelor of Art and Psychology, Lone Mountain College, San Francisco, CA, 1977
Fine Art (Drawing, Painting Sculpture) Cooper Union, NYC. 1962-64
Selected Residencies, Grants and Faculty Positions
- Narrative Interventions / Corona-Sequestered International Dialogues; (3 Months) 2021
- Kol haOT Gallery /Art Residency (3 months), Hutzot haYotzer Historic District,
Jerusalem, 2018
- Project Room/Art Residency (3 months), The Loft at Liz’s Gallery, LA, CA, 2011
- 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA, International Art Residency (1 month), 2010
- Coolidge Colloquium Fellowship (1 month), Auburn Theological Seminary, NYC, 2010
- Congregation Habonim, NYC, Artist/Scholar in Residence, (2 weeks) 2009
- 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA, International Art Residency (3 months), 2009
- Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, CA, Scholar-in- Residence (3 months), 2008
- International Plein-Air, Morehead, MN, Printmaking Art Residency (2 weeks),1996
- International Plein Air Chelinshechaya, Russia, Printmaking Art Residency (2 weeks),
1996
- Arad Arts Project, Arad, Israel, Painting Residency (1 year), 1993-94
* Artist in Residence and art faculty Brandeis College Institute, Simi Valley, CA 1988-2001
- Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY, Artist-in-Residence (6 weeks) 1983
- Cornell University Council on the Arts, Project Grant, Ithaca, NY, 1983
Selected Published Art and Writing
- “Praise Emptiness Essays Verbal and Visual text by Philip Miller, Design and Art by Judith
Margolis, Bright Idea Books, Jerusalem, 2022
- “Train Music: Writing/Pictures” text by CS Giscombe; Illustrations by Judith Margolis, Omnidawn Publishing, 2021
- “Life Support Invitation to Prayer,” (Illustrations and Text); Penn State Press / Graphic Medicine Series, Spring, 2019
- “Country Commune Cooking,” by Lucy Horton, (Illustrations) American History Press, Staunton, VA, Summer, 2019 (Originally published by Coward McCann and Geoghegan, NYC, 1972)
- “Celery Wine, Story of a West Coast Commune,” by Elaine Sundancer, (Illustrations) Fellowship for Intentional Community, Rutledge, MO, 2019 (Originally published by Community Publications Cooperative, Yellow Springs, OH; 1973)
- Illustrated Article about my work (Translated into Mandarin), pgs. 26-29, Uncommon
Spaces: Inhabiting Uncertainty, Architectural Worlds Magazine, Vol 28 #149, 2013
- “Creativity and Healing in a Jewish Context,” Judaism and Health, A Handbook of Practical, Professional and Scholarly Resources, Edited by Jeff Levin and Michele Prince; Jewish Lights, Vermont, 2013
- Jewish Women: Creating Art, Promoting Change, Featured Artist; Calendar/Exhibition, Hadassah- Brandeis Institute, MA, 2008
- ”Countdown to Perfection Meditations on the Sefirot,” Text, Sarah Yehudit Schneider, Illustrations by Judith Margolis; Bright Idea Books/Jerusalem, 2008
- Hadassah Brandeis Activist Artists Women’s Yearbook, 2008
- Women Artists Date Book, Featured Artist; Syracuse Cultural Workers, NY 2003
- “Fables for All Ages,” by Frieda Clark Hyman, Illustrations by Judith Margolis; Gefen
Publishers.
1995
Videos/ Judith Margolis YouTube Channel
- Family Secrets, Graphic Medicine 2022 Chicago Conference
- The Point,
Selected Exhibitions
Bakersfield Art Museum, CA, 2023
Azrieli Gallery, Jerusalem, 2022
Vienna National Museum – Vienna – 2021
Kol haOT Gallery – Jerusalem – 2018
Ceres Gallery – Chelsea, NYC- 2018
Shir Hadash Beit Knesset Gallery, Tzur Hadassah, Israel, 2018
Art Kibbutz – Governors Island, NYC – 2016
Shelter Gallery – Jerusalem – 2015
Loft at Liz’s Gallery – LA, CA – 2011
Kehelat Yedidya – Jerusalem, Israel – 2011
18th Street Art Center – Santa Monica, CA – 2010
Kehilat Yedidya – Jerusalem, Israel – 2009
Hebrew Union College – New York City – 2009
Hebrew Union College – LA, CA – 2008
Yeshiva U. Museum – New York City – 2004
Of Southern California – LA, CA – 2003
Brandeis-Bardin Inst. – Simi Valley, CA – 2000
Judaism/Platt Gallery – LA, CA – 1999
Super Studio Gallery – Jerusalem – 1994
ARTernatives Gallery- San Luis Obispo, CA – 1989
Of Southern California – LA, CA – 1986
Buffalo Street Gallery – Ithaca, NY – 1988
Smedley’s Gallery – Ithaca, NY – 1981
Eisenhower College – Seneca Falls, NY – 1978
Ithaca House Gallery – Ithaca, New York – 1978
Ceres Gallery, Chelsea, NYC 2017
Mercer Island JCC, Seattle, WA, 2016
Jerusalem Biennale, Israel (4 different exhibits) 2015
American Jewish University, Los Angeles, 2015
St. Elizabeth College – Morristown, NJ- 2014
Jerusalem Biennale, Jerusalem, Israel 2012
Antea Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel, 2012
Philadelphia Mus. of Jewish Art- Phil, PA – 2010
Mizel Museum – Denver, CO- 2010
El Camino College – LA, CA – 2009
Huan Tie Art Museum – Beijing, China – 2008
Bible Museum – Tel Aviv – Israel -2008
Rutgers University – Camden, NJ – 2005
Our Lady of the Angeles – LA, CA – 2005
Janco-Dada Museum – Ein Hod,Israel – 2004
Purdue University – Lafayette, IN – 2003
KunstKeller Gallery – Annaberg, Germany – 2002
Athenaeum Art Center – La Jolla, CA – 2001
Minnesota Center for Book Art – Minn, MN – 2001
SW Missouri. State U. – Springfield, MO – 2000
Atlantic University – Boca Raton, FL – 2000
Morris Louis Gallery/Bezelel – Jerusalem – 1998
B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum – DC – 1997
Central Exhibition Hall – Moscow – Russia, 1996
ARTSpace – Jerusalem – 1995
The Knesset – Jerusalem – 1994
Arad Art Museum – Arad, Israel – 1994
Loyola University Gallery – LA, CA – 1991
UCLA Kirkham Gallery – LA, CA – 1991
of Wis. Fine Art Gallery – Milwaukee – 1987
Otis/Parsons Gallery – LA, CA – 1984
Amfac Plaza Gallery – Honolulu – 1984
Herbert Johnson Museum – Ithaca, NY – 1983
Long Beach Museum – LB, CA – 1983
Rutgers U. Art Mus. – New Brunswick, NJ – 1981
Traction Gallery – LA, CA – 1981
Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art – 1979
Cornell University Art Gallery – Ithaca, NY – 1978
Selected Public Collections
Arthur Jaffe Center for Book Arts, Boca Raton, FL NY Public Library, Special Collections, NYC UCLA, Young Library, Special Collections, LA, CA UC Berkeley, Judaica Library, Berkeley, CA
Yale U. Beinecke Rare Book Library, New Haven CT
U. of WA, Rare Book Collection, Seattle, WA
U. of Denver Rare Book Library, Denver, CO
ICU Unit, Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel
Midway Hospital Medical Center, LA
CA Tompkins County Hospital, Ithaca, NY
Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum, LA, CA
Brandeis-Bardin Institute, Simi Valley, CA
Artist’s House, Chilushskinskaya, Russia of Houston, Rare Book Library, Houston, TX Minnesota St. U. Arts Archives, Moorehead, MN Vassar Col. Rare Books Library, Poughkeepsie, NY U.of Colorado, Rare Book Coll., Boulder, CO University of Delaware, Rare Book Coll., Del., MD Rochester Inst. of Tech., Rare Book Coll., NY Virginia Commonwealth University, Book Arts Collection, Richmond, VA
Wesleyan U, Rare Books Lib., Middletown, CT University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Worried Me
2022 – front panel from Artitst’s Book, Family Secrets, 55cm 310cm Epson Plotter digital print of drawing and collage on paper (detail is 58cm)
Somehow She Knew
2022 – from Artitst’s Book, Family Secrets, 55cm 310cm Epson Plotter digital print of drawing and collage on paper (detail is 95cm)
Long Lost Shewolf
1986 – Goauche, colored pencil, oil crayon on paper 100cm X 130cm
Woman with Roots
2020 – Digital print of goauche on paper, 90cm X90cm
Woman Jumping over Low Hurdle (After Muybridge)”
2006 – Pencil, pastel, gouache on paper 104cm X 64cm