Judith Glover is based in Sudbury and came together with five other artists to work on the CO10 Collective exhibition in September last year.
Judith is known for her botanical imagery and unique illustrative style.
She began her training at Darlington College of Arts in Devon and went on to study Graphic Design at Hornsey College of Art. Her designs have featured on many products including greetings cards, wrapping paper, stationary, fabric and ceramics. In the CO10 Exhibition, visitors can enjoy and purchase Judith’s new collection of original artwork as well as her beautiful cards and signed copies of her illustrated book ‘In a Zen Garden’.
Judith talked to Jackie about her experience of coming together with five other local artists to create a new body of work for the exhibition.
“We all live within a mile and a half of each other. I first got to know Sue Marsden through her life drawing group and it has been great to get to know the rest of the group through Cathy D’Arcy. None of us knew exactly what work was going to be exhibited before the hanging day, so it was a lovely surprise to see how well the pieces all work together in the space.
It was great that we decided to make completely new work for the exhibition. It surprised me to find that my colour palette changed from autumnal to spring colours, to include more greens, yellows and blues than I normally use and seeing my work in the gallery with its view of the beautiful spring landscape outside just seemed perfect.
At one of the first meetings that we had, we made a grouping of a John Guest print together with one of Cathy’s ceramic pieces and Val’s jewellery and it was then that we had the vision of how the exhibition would come together. We realised that there was a common theme, we were all inspired by nature and drawing is an important aspect of all our work.
Jos Daley’s work is connected to the landscape and Sue’s Sue Marsden’s drawings from life are sensitive and free. There is a lot of drama as well. There are bold colours as well as sensitive lines.
I’m a really keen gardener. We started thinking about the exhibition is September and I began looking at leaves and foliage - Hellebore plants in my garden and tropical leaves particularly.
I went to Malaga and visited the Botanical Gardens where there are lots of interesting tropical leaves and this subliminally seemed to become a bit of a theme.
Shelves in Cathy D’Arcy’s home displaying her ceramics and pottery inspired me to create a
series of new ‘Vessels’ prints and these works are displayed opposite Cathy’s in the exhibition.
Mid way through the conversation two visitors to the exhibition came to have a chat with Judith about the work. When asked which one they liked the best, one visitor said: “I love this one, I just love the colouring of green and purple and it’s subdued, not in your face, it’s natural but not real.”
I’m attracted to the muted colours all fitting together. The purple and green are women’s colours, like the Suffragettes. I have a room which is decorated in blues and it would fit in there.”
Judith then went on to show them her book and explained a little about what it meant to her.
“Zen philosophy helps with life on a practical and spiritual level. The book shows through nature that you can bring tranquility, balance and harmony into your life and garden. It’s a practice book showing the guiding principles of Zen Philosophy. There are little quotations in the book from Zen Masters.”
Judith read a quote from her book:
“When you hear the splash of the water drops that fall into the stone bowl, you will feel that all the dust of your mind is washed away.”
Sen - No - Ricku. Zen Tea Master
Judith noticed:
“I haven’t got many left now. People are buying it for themselves or as a gift for their friends. One lady said she bought a copy for a friend but she didn’t know which friend she was going to give it to yet. I thought that was a lovely thing to do.”
To see Judith’s work, join us for the final weekend of the CO10 Collective Exhibition on:
Friday 24th from 2.30pm - 6.00pm
Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th & Monday 27th from 11.00am - 4.00pm
Judith is a member of Artworks and is also taking part in Suffolk Open Studios.
The Sudbury trail takes place on the 8th and 9th of June.
To plan a studio visit, pick up a guide from Mill Tye Gallery.