12 - 30 June 2008
about the exhibition
Judy Holding’s latest body of work continues to engage with her exploration of the Northern Territory. Filling her extensive “camp notebooks” with stories, photographs and sketches of her travels, Judy reflects on the essence of the people, animals and climates she encounters. From her many visits to the area, Judy has come to know the landscape well and has made friends with some of the local elders who are happy to share their stories with her. Back in her studio in Melbourne, Judy uses her dairies to inform her artistic practice and builds on her growing understanding of the Indigenous people and their relationship to the land. From that point, her practice takes on many different forms using printmaking, painting, collage and sculpture to create her eclectic and vivid art works. Works on paper rich with creativity and colour come to life as Judy adds layer by layer reminding us of the “interconnectedness of elements” in the natural world while her sculptural pieces are cut away from aluminium and steel drawing our attention to absence and silhouettes. Each medium demands a new approach while each engaging in themes of “deliberateness and play, involvement and detachment, labour and design.”
Born in Bendigo, Judy Holding studied for her Diploma in Primary Teaching (Art and Craft) at the Melbourne State College in the mid1960s. In 1977 she went on to complete her Diploma of Fine Art, majoring in painting, at Caulfield Institute of Technology. Since then, she has worked in both Canberra and Melbourne as a professional artist and graphic designer while also travelling extensively in remote regions of the Northern Territory. Judy has participated in numerous exhibitions across Australia including shows at Swan Hill, Shepparton & Wagga Regional Galleries and the Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art. Her work is represented in collections at Artbank, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Benalla Regional Gallery and Shepparton Regional Gallery.