Born in Cape Town 1966. She obtained her B.A.F.A from Michaelis School of Fine Art in 1988 and an advanced Diploma in Printmaking awarded with Distinction in 1989. She was awarded her Masters of Fine Arts Degree with Distinction from the University of Cape Town in 1993 with a dissertation entitled Moria, a Eulogy of Folly.
She was the resident artist and administrator of Hard Ground Printmakers’ Workshop from 1993 until its closure in 2005. She currently runs her own studio at The Bijou building in Lower Main Road, Observatory, Cape Town. She has travelled and visited many printmaking workshops in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Austria and has travelled as far south as Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic Peninsula, crossing the infamous Drake’s Passage in an icebreaker. Her work has been inspired by recent trips to Hong Kong and mainland China, where she was part of a group training in Yang Style Tai’ Chi Chuan, with Master Ou Rong Ju in Foshan, Guandong Province. Recent trips have been to visit the island of Zanzibar and voyaging to Namibia by boat. A trip into the Himalayas and Indo-Tibet and a road trip through the deserts of the Sahara during a residency at Cafe Tissardmine in Morocco have been recent journeys and explorations.
Artist biography
Woodborne has spent some time working in various printmaking workshops such as the Grafische Werkstatt im Traklhaus, as well as taking part in collaborative printmaking portfolios with artist/curator Jan Jordaan, working on the Break the Silence HIV Campaign, as well as the Art for Humanity, Woman Artists supporting Childrens’ Rights Campaign. Other projects include the Playing Card Portfolio curated by Veerle Rooms, Belgium in collaboration with the Playing Card Museum, Kasterlee, the Body Politic portfolio of colour etchings produced in collaboration with Prof. Teresa Cole, Tulane University, USA.
Woodborne
Woodborne was selected as the ABSA Klein Karroo Kunsfees Festival Artist in 2007. She produced an unusual body of paintings on gold-leaf entitled “The Garden of Eden”. She recently curated and published a portfolio of 16 etchings, The Exquisite Corpse, based on the theme of Adam and Eve, in collaboration with 7 participating artists. The portfolio was sponsored by Sanlam, and selected for the Klein Karoo Kunsfees 2009.
Judy has been working in collaboration with Tarot Reader, Joanne Jardine over the last four years to produce her portfolio of Tarot Card Etchings, a series of 22 etchings of the Major Arcana. This portfolio has been launched at the S.A. Print Gallery, and the set can be viewed on this site under the printmaking category.
Awarded scholar
- 1987 – Class medal, UCT.
- 1988 – Professional category of the Credits ’88 Competition.
- 1988 – Merit award, Rolfes’ Impressions Exhibition.
- 1988 – MacIver Scholarship.(UCT).
- 1989 – Katrine Harries Print Cabinet Award.
- 1989 – MacIver Scholarship.(UCT).
- 1989 – Jules Kramer Music and Fine Arts Grant.(UCT)
- 1990 – Merit Award, Volkskas Atelier Competition.
- 1990 – Swan Young Artists Award.
- 1990 – Jules Kramer and McIver Scholarships
- 1990 – H.S.R.C. Grant.
- 1990 – UCT Research Grant.
- 1991 – MacIver Scholarship.(UCT)
- 1991 – H.S.R.C. Grant.
- 1992 – MacIver Scholarship.(UCT)
- 1992 – Jules Kramer Music and Fine Arts Grant.(UCT)
- 1996 – Foundation for the Creative Arts Grant.
- 2007 – Invited as Festival Artist for the Klein Karoo Kunsfees,Oudtshoorn, Western Cape.
- 2012 – Awarded a funding grant from the NAC
- 2013 – Awarded a funding grant from the NAC
- 2015 – Invited Festival Artist, Salzburg Summer Festival, Austria
- 2019 – Awarded the S.C. Bes Romania SRL award in the International Biennial of Contemporary Engraving, Romania.
