“Color and movement are very important to me. I paint without subject matter in mind. Then, sometimes, something just appears as if by magic.” -Judy Bjorling in the Daily Herald
My Art Journey
I remember liking to draw from a very young age. My parents were both smokers and brought home matchbooks. One contained a simple portrait drawing with the large print, “Can You Draw This?” On the back was an ad for an art school or graphics design studio. I would take pencil and paper and draw those portraits.
I always illustrated my writings in grade school—even the play I wrote and my class produced. I was also good in math so I didn’t have to pay too close attention to the teacher. Of course I also drew trucks and boats and (later on) pin-up girls requested by the boys in my class.
In high school I was the cartoonist for our weekly newsletter, the Alltold. I also hand-lettered all the banners for dances and events.
As a junior I began to take art classes an an elective and learned to paint. My teacher thought I was good enough to take private lessons and so I used the money I was making teaching violin and playing with my trio to pay for lessons with Jozef Wrobel, a fine watercolorist.
Though my parents couldn’t afford college, Wrobel encouraged me to try for an art scholarship. My grades were good and he suggested I apply for the Scholastic Art Awards scholarship. The problem was that competitors by state had already been determined. However, were I to compete with the state winners, there was a chance that I could win. Joe helped me assemble a portfolio of my watercolors, I won and was notified that I could choose from a myriad of schools around the U.S.
I didn’t think too long (probably not long enough), and chose the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I knew I could get there on the train (we didn’t have a car), and I had been there before.
However, leaving the Art Institute may have been a foolish idea, as I had to find a job to support myself. Fortunately, I found a number of positions that both augmented my talents and enabled me to supervise other people. I worked in Education, in Economics, and in Law. I went back to school and received an MBA from Northwestern University and began to work in business-to-business research. But in 1989 a fellow who had owned one of my early watercolors sought me out and telephoned. He asked what I was currently working on. I told him I had a consulting business and many Fortune 500 clients. I guess he was not impressed when he asked, “So why is it you’re not painting?”
That question resonated with me and I began to paint again. In 1991, I began to sculpt and thereafter I exhibited both paintings and sculptures in the Chicago area. Moving to Tucson in 2002 it was possible to fire my sculptures not only in pit fires and raku, but in the saggar fire technique. I continued to paint and exhibit.
I moved to the Northwest in 2022 and continue to paint, collage, and exhibit my work.