Biographical Information: Since graduating from college with a BFA in Graphic Design, Judith Shepelak followed several career paths including a paralegal, a graphic package designer, a landscape designer, and president of a not-for-profit group in support of a local plant conservatory. In 2005, she rededicated herself to Fine Art. With her intense love of the outdoors and devotion to gardening, creating realistic botanical and landscape pieces was a natural beginning. As she continues to draw, she finds herself creating non-objective or interpretive pieces generally resulting from a deeply emotional response to an event. She works almost exclusively with colored pencil. She enjoys the simplicity of the medium and the various methods by which it can be manipulated. Colored pencils can appear very much like a drawing, can be transparent like a watercolor, or burnished to a painterly effect. This flexibility allows for unlimited effects and interpretations. She has won several awards for her artwork and in 2009 received her Signature status in the Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA). Artist Statement: Nature has always been my focus. I am attracted to the endless variations in colors and patterns. Nature can be subtle or scream with color, it can take a simple form or manifest itself in the most intricate patterns. Up to this point, I have tried to recreate feelings of an event or visually describe the uniqueness of a place, but as I progress with my art work I find myself leaning more towards more abstract interpretations influenced by natural form and color. Awards The Mona Lynch Memorial Award for Excellence 2007 Exhibitions Outside the Lines – 2007, Schaumburg Prairie Center for the Arts Juried Exhibitions Explore This 4 – 2007,Brea, California Publications CPSA Seattle, NW Colored Pencil Points, Oct.-Nov. 2008, “Making a Statement Through Art: Darfur” Gallery Representation Mullaly's 128 Studio Gallery, 128 River Street, Elk Rapids, MI 49629. 231-264-6660, art@mullalys128.com |