Judith Hutcheson was born in Sun Valley, Idaho and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania. She currently resides in Ivins, Utah. In 1985, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kutztown University, Pennsylvania, where she studied painting and art history.
Judith led a career outside of the arts in the San Francisco Bay area for many years, all the while continuing to paint. During the late 80s and 90s her work was based on landscapes, but were not representational, rather more abstract simplification of mountains, waters, and skies, and aerial views of land/water outlines and horizon lines where land and air could be transposed. She painted portraits of family members and close friends, dressed up and looking their best. She painted the bounty of northern California’s produce.
Judith currently draws her inspiration from the southwest desert landscape and the time spent caring for a local herd of American wild horses. She showcases her paintings at Hutch Studio in the Kayenta Art Village, Ivins, Utah, along with her sister who is an accomplished metalsmith.
Statement
Since I was an impressionable teenager, I’ve been drawn to art, artists, and art history – beginning with high school art teachers who were great mentors and lovers of art, and continuing through university fine art education, and finally -life. I started painting with acrylic, and I remember struggling with my first oil painting. In time, however, the feel of the oil paint, the smell of the materials, and the solitude and concentration became something to always look forward to, and ultimately that is why I paint.
In the past, my work has been called biomorphic (a nonrepresentational form or pattern that resembles a living organism in shape or appearance) with images based on physiology or landscape. I would say today my work is more contemporary or “loose” realism.
When I paint, it is an intimate session between me and the object of my desire at a particular moment in time. Is it Shoshone the beautiful wild American horse, or is it a famous rock star, or a stranger who captivates me? Is it a house, or a mountain, or a stream, or a tree? I live in the southern Utah desert and volunteer caring for a herd of about 20 American wild horses, and some cows too. The animal portraits are my view of the inner essence of my friends at the corrals and all the animals that live near me. They are portraits to me as much as human portraits, and all portraits are meant to capture the spirit of the being. To me, even landscapes and still life paintings can fall into a portrait category – portrait of a house, portrait of a cloud, portrait of a mountain, portrait of a moment in time.
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