Judy Rogers

“An obsession with antique photographs of people, unearthed from junk stores and used in my painting, forced my work to take a strong narrative direction.  Their faces were unknown to me, yet they became an extension of my family.  I gave them a new existence – a second life — as I built paintings around them.

Artists traditionally are known to possess sensitivities that are not commonly experienced by others. My own personal imagery, memories and dreams reflect these sensitivities in all of my work. Being a wife, mother and grandmother can only heighten such qualities. One must realize that making art is a birth process.  Only a woman artist who is also a mother can completely comprehend this.  She can also understand the pain.

Imagery appears in my work that I can’t always explain, as in this work inspired by the birth of my granddaughter Sarah.  I had not met her, and yet I clearly saw her face (reflected in the drawing on the far left). I am a bystander to a spontaneity and intuitiveness that occurs as the narrative develops.  The birthing process continues.”

Judith (Judy) Rogers was born in Atlanta and raised in nearby Decatur, Georgia.  Academic requirements for her degree were obtained at the Georgia State College for Women and the University of Georgia, Atlanta.  Her Bachelor of Fine Arts was awarded by the Atlanta College of Art in 1953.  She is married to Fred Rogers and they have three sons, eight grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.

Her attraction to history created a love of collecting vintage photographs to be used in her work.  After manipulating them in various ways, she then builds each work using graphite, watercolor, pencil, ink, pastel and found objects. Her work depicts dream-like images that often reflect a nightmarish aura. Childhood memories and reverence for other generations planted the seeds for the narrative quality of her art.  Family is perpetuated in her art.

Judith has received many honors during her long art career, including numerous awards from invitational and juried shows, and inclusions in personal and corporate collections.  She was a juried member of the Watercolor Society of Alabama and is a member and supporter of the Birmingham Museum of Art.  She is particularly proud of her work with the Bluff Park Art Association, where she served as a Board member for many years.  Judith was previously represented through the Maralyn Wilson Gallery as well as the Lyda Rose Gallery. 

In November 1991, Judith’s work was included in an exhibition at Space One Eleven, featuring Southern women artists, who like Judith, nurtured both a home and an art career. She was so pleased to be included in this exhibit because of its theme of home. “Art is a necessary form of self-expression in my life.  My work presents, although quite subtly at times, a personal history as well as imagery of home.”

Space One Eleven Involvement: Founding Member; HearthStones I: Conforming and Confounding 1992; Now and Then 2007