Judith Schwarz


Judith Schwarz is a Canadian visual artist. Her work has been featured in exhibitions since 1979.

Early life and education

Judith Schwarz was born 1944 in Vancouver, British Columbia and is based in Toronto, Ontario. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of British Columbia, attended the Vancouver School of Art, and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from York University.

Career

Schwarz is an Associate Professor at York University in Toronto, where she teaches sculpture and drawing at both graduate and undergraduate levels. In 1978 she began her career at York University and in 1995 she received a full-time appointment to the Faculty of Fine Arts. Schwarz is known for her outdoor abstract sculptures, integrating art with the environment.
Schwarz's earliest sculptural exhibit, entitled Parallel Language, was a three-part work juxtaposing a circular die-cut steel sheet wall mounted, angling out from it onto the floor—a steel beam, and a leaf shaped steel stencil next to a beautiful slab of oak. In a review written by Linda Genereux in Artforum, Genereux states "The strength of Judith Schwarz's work depends upon her dexterous handling of material and a growing vocabulary of forms..."
Her work can be found in many public collections across Canada and in the US, including the Canada Council Art Bank, the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada, the University of Oregon and the York University. The National Gallery purchased two of her drawings in 1983: Low Light Drawing, Series A, #10 and Head Stand ; and then in 1987 purchased a set of four videotapes: I am an artist, My name is…, a collaboration between Schwarz and Elizabeth MacKenzie.
Schwarz has created public commissions in both Vancouver and Toronto, Canada. Among her commissions in Toronto are the Nautilus Gateway, a stainless steel and bronze sculpture in Waterpark Place, Bay Street and Queen's Quay and Spiral Fountain, a bronze fountain for the Hotel Deck at Skydome. Schwarz's sculpture Pacific Spiral was among 350 outdoor artworks celebrated in Vancouver during the 2014 Culture Days Celebration, as part of a national Culture Days campaign designed to promote artistic activities across Canada.
In 1990 at the 75th Anniversary of the Emily Awards, Schwarz was presented with an Emily Award. She was among the 75 distinguished alumni of Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design that were recognized for their outstanding career achievements.
The University of Waterloo Art Gallery circulated a 10-year retrospective of Schwarz's work, titled Dissembling Structures, curated by James D. Campbell. This exhibition was presented at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo , the Concordia University's Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Toronto, and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's Charles S. Scott Art Gallery, Vancouver.
Schwarz was awarded the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award in Visual Arts by the Canada Council in 1998

Selected exhibitions