Judy Ledgerwood

Artist Information

Born: 1959, Brazil, IN
Currently Resides: Oak Park, IL

Contact Information:
jcl482 (at) northwestern (dot) edu

Medium(s) Worked in:
Painting
Ceramics
Mixed-media

Available for Commission: Yes

Represented by:
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
Tracy Williams Ltd., New York
1301 PE Gallery, Los Angeles

HPAC Exhibitions

2006, Takeover

Artist Bio

In the tradition of Modernist painting, Judy Ledgerwood paints monumental abstract compositions that explore light, color, and structure. Her paintings are formal, decorative, and tranquil while simultaneously being highly personal, optically challenging, and inherently subversive. In her compositions, she creates a dialogue that is uniquely feminine but also powerful and authoritative. Early in her career, Ledgerwood began incorporating traditionally feminine pastel colors into her landscape based paintings in an attempt to challenge and undermine the historically male-dominated tradition of gestural abstract paintings. Today her compositions include circular motifs typically associated with the decorative arts tradition. In the 1970s many feminist artists identified and celebrated circular patterns as being connected to female identity. Ledgerwood acknowledges this tradition through her continued use of dot motifs, which she identifies as her form of non exclamatory mark-making. Ledgerwood is the recipient of a Tiffany Award in the Visual Arts, a National Endowment for the Arts Award, an Illinois Art Council Award and two CIRA Grants from Northwestern University. Her work is represented in the public collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Swissbank New York. Her degrees are from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, BFA, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MFA.

In her compositions, she creates a dialogue that is uniquely feminine but also powerful and authoritative.

Press & Publications

“At the Galleries: New York News, Exploiting the Abstract,” Flash Art, Summer, 1998, p. 63.
Artner, Alan G.,” Ledgerwood finds a place, just not a good one,” Chicago Tribune, Friday, Sept. 19, 2003, Sec. 7, p.21.
______,”Judy Ledgerwood’s new works interact with winter light,” Chicago Tribune, Friday, Feb. 5, 1999, Sec. 7, p. 53.
_____, “Bigger not Better,” Chicago Tribune, Sunday June 30,1996, Sec 7, p. 12.
_____,”“The New MCA,” Chicago Tribune, Sunday, June 16, 1996, Sec. 7, p. 1.
_____, “Evanston exhibit of abstract works an evenhanded view,” Chicago Tribune, Friday, Feb. 3, 1995,Sec. 7, p. 48.
_____, “Art: Judy Ledgerwood,” Chicago Tribune, Friday, Jan.17, 1992, Sec.7, p .66.
_____, “Wooden beams, even soil, enrich paintings,” Chicago Tribune, Friday, Sept. 21, 1990, Sec. 7 , p. 66.
_____, “Catalogue is best part of ‘nonspiritual’ ,” Chicago Tribune, Thurs. June 11, 1987, Sec. 5 p.11E.
Bonesteel, Michael, “New Abstract Art Rules,” Pioneer Press, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 1995.

___, “Medium Cool: New Chicago Abstraction,” Art in America, Dec. 1987,
Vol. 75, No.12, pp.138-47.
Bradley, Jeff, “From Patience to Fascination: Striking Etchings and Prints in Riverhouse Retrospective,” The Denver Post , October 11, 1999, p. 26 E.
Bulka, Michael, “Individuals II,” New Art Examiner, Oct.1988, Vol. 15, No. 13, p. 24.
Byrd, Cathy, “Eye-popping aesthetic: Dots, stripes and squiggles vibrate at ACA and Swan Coach House Galleries.” Atlanta Creativeloafing, February 12, 2000, pp. 37-38.
Carlton, William, “Art & Soul,” News Sentinel, June 16, 1994.
Clarkson, David, “Group Shows; Exploiting The Abstract,” Flash Art, Nov.-Dec.1998, p. 66.
Cotter, Holland, “A Tour Through Chelsea: The New Center Of Gravity,” The New York Times, Friday May 15, 1998.
Cyphers, Peggy, “Review: Judy Ledgerwood,” Arts, Dec.1989, Vol. 64,No. 4, p. 96.
Diehl, Carol, “Germans van Eck, New York: exhibit,” Art News, Vol. 92 Summer 1993, p.178.
New York Contemporary Art Report, Vol.1, Issue 1, May, pp. 106-107.
Gamble, Allison, “Beneath the Surfaces of Chicago Art: The myths that work,”
New Art Examiner, May1989, Vol. 16, No. 8, p. 108.
Grabner, Michelle, “Judy Ledgerwood,” art US, January-February, 2004, p. 18.
_____,”Serendipity,” New Art Examiner, November-December, 2001, p. 84.
_____, “Lake Breeze: Referential Abstraction in Chicago,” New Art Examiner,
September, 1998, pp. 22-26. (reproduction on cover).
Hanson, Henry, “Art Works,” Chicago Magazine, Sept.1990, p. 26.
Hansson, Joyce & Elizabeth Ringdon, “1987: Year in Review,” CAC News, Jan. 1988,
Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 4-5.
Hawkins, Margaret, “Exhibit shows why Op was on top,” Chicago Sun-Times, Wed. May 3, 2000, p. 52.
_____, “Richard Gray celebrates 40 years with stealer show,” Chicago Sun-Times, Fri. Sept. 12, 2003. p. 51.
Heithaus, Harriet Howard,”Midwest Best,” The Journal Gazette, June 16, 1994.
Hixson, Kathryn, “Chicago in Review,” Arts, Dec.1990, Vol. 65, No. 4, pp.107-08.
_____, “Chicago in Review,” Arts, April 1989, Vol. 63, No. 8, p.108.
_____, “Cool, Conceptual, Controversial,” New Art Examiner, May 1988,
Vol. 15, No. 9, p. 30-33.
Holg, Garrett, “Pamela Golden/Judy Ledgerwood,” New Art Examiner, March1988,
Vol. 15, No. 7, p. 49.
Horodner, Stuart, “Flat mates,” Surface, Summer 2000, issue 24, pp. 72-73.
Hudson, “On Natural,” NIT & WIT, Apri1987, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 24.
Kirshner, Judith Russi, ” A Narrative of Women’s Experience,” Art Criticism, Vol.6, No.1, p. 20-31.
Kohen, Helen, “Art returns to Lannan’s old home,” The Miami Herald, Jan. 10, 199
Ledgerwood, Judy, “Speakeasy,” The New Art Examiner , January 1996, Vol. 23, No. 5, pp. 14-15.
McCracken, David, “The Art of Black,” Chicago Tribune, Friday, June 23, 1989, Sec. 7, p. 56.
Nesbitt, Lois E, “Review: Judy Ledgerwood,” Artforum, Nov., Vol. 28, No. 3, p. 151.
Murphy, Bruce, “Is Painting Dead?” Milwaukee Magazine, Nov.1995, p. 96.
Paradiso, Kathleen, “Judy Ledgerwood,” New Art Examiner, Jan. 1991, Vol. 18, No. 5,
pp.41-42.
Purcell. Greg, “The Circle Show,” New Art Examiner :Chicago Reviews, April 2000, p. 48.
Samuelsen, Grant, “Non-invisibility Blues: A Celebrity Primer,” New Art Examiner, October 1996, Vol. 24, pp. 32-3.
Rice, Nancy, ” ‘New Realism’ Show is Real, But not New,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sunday, May 22, 1998. Sec. P. 4C.
Schleifer, Kristen Brooke, ” Home Is Where The Art Is,” Art On Paper, Vol. 4, No.3 , January-February 2000, p. 23.
Schwan, Gary, “Lannan Museum reopening as PBCC Museum of Art,” Palm Beach Post, Jan. 27,1991, p. 2L.
Shaw, Kurt, “Abstract Action,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 30, 2001, p.
Sheffield, Skip, “Art: An Opening Collection,” The News, Feb. 1,1991, p. 18E.
Snodgrass, Susan, “Judy Ledgerwood at Rhona Hoffman Gallery,” Art In America, January, 2004, p. 110.
“Chicago in Review, Judy Ledgerwood,” Artscribe, March-April, 1991, pp.72-73.
_____,”Letter from Chicago,” C Magazine : no. 62 , May-August, p. 21.
_____,”Review of Exhibitions: Chicago,” Art in America, April 1992, Vol. 80,
No. 4, pp. 166-67.
Stuhmer, Marcelino, “post-hypnotic,” The New Art Examiner, July-August 2000, p. 41.
Wilk, Deborah, “Judy Ledgerwood,” New Art Examiner :Chicago Reviews, April 1999, pp. 44-45.
____,” Renaissance Society to benefit from designer crossover,” Chicago Tribune, Sun. Oct. 17, 1999, Sec. 15, p. 3.
Yood, James, “Collaborations1998: Printworks Gallery,” ARTFORUM, February 1999, p. 10.
____, “post-hypnotic: University Galleries of Illinois State University,” Normal, Illinois, ARTFORUM , April 1999, p.120.

Additional Information

Asst. Professor at Northwestern University

Copyright © 2006 A:LIST.

Hyde Park Art Center