Artist Spotlight: Judy Clendenning

Rage

Judy may be tiny in stature, but her paintings are big, bold and powerful. The colors are rich and dense. Her work sometimes leans heavily towards emotional abstractions and sometimes sways into realism. In some you see anger or pain. Others make you smile with delight … especially when you find one of the surprises she might tuck onto a panel.

From the Heart

Judy describes her work as intuitive. She says, “I never know what the end product will be, but it comes from my insides. There might be something niggling at me. Or something I just need to work out. When I begin a painting now, I have no idea what's going to show up. It's going to be what it's going to be.”

She begins by putting that first mark on the panel or paper and as she gets into the mode, playing around with it, different things are discovered. She reminisces about a painting that began with tiny marks and roundish shapes. At one point she says it looked a bit like a reindeer was appearing. Weeks went by with marks being applied and intuition working and suddenly she said, “I knew what I was going to put in there. It came up like bubbles in Champagne.” In the piece titled “Learning to Fly” a great frolicking bird emerged!

Sometimes a bit of collage gets mixed into the paint. Sometimes collage is the driving medium. One particular collage gets a lot of attention when on exhibit. It is a large portrait of a rooster. At first glance, it appears to be a dramatically colorful painting. When you move in closer you realize that it is a collage made from tiny cuttings of paper. And if you are paying even closer attention, you notice that tucked in under the waddle are tiny images of chicks, “keeping warm,” Judy says. Sometimes her process includes little surprise gifts for the viewer.

A Conversation


Judy’s work begins in a place of introspection or perhaps a meditative place, but she realizes it may be received differently by a viewer. She notes that “somebody else will read it in a different way than I'm reading it, which is the blessing of it. It's often a conversation between the artist and the viewer.” She thought about this when she recalled a painting that she did when enraged by a news item. Sickened by the event she turned to her paintbrushes. Her paintings are not necessarily done with selling in mind, but she indicated that this one would not likely interest a buyer. She wondered what a viewer might make of that painting.

A Journey with Grief


Judy experienced a long, drawn-out period of grief and loss a few years back. As she began to emerge emotionally, she dedicated herself to painting. Day after day she applied her marks, working in a horizontal format. Finally, one day she turned the painting on its side, and realized she was done. Titled “Exquisite Pain,” it is a visualization of her grief and pain. She included it in her 2024 one-person show with trepidation but found, instead of repulsion viewers found it became a window for conversation. People shared their own stories of grief with her. They also shared stories in a journal that was part of the same show. The show entitled “My Journey with Grief,” became a powerful catharsis for Judy as well as some of the visitors.

Stitching Things Together


Always creative as a child, art activities began to really come together as Judy forged a different relationship with her mother in her late twenties. Her mother taught her knitting and crocheting and they learned needlepoint together. While moving along in her career of nursing, Judy continued to pursue the arts. She took classes in Folk Art painting and had private lessons in painting and kept learning. Finally in her fifties, she decided to take art classes at the University of Maine at Orono. She credits her teacher Mike for giving her the keys to painting. She remembers, “When he gave an assignment, I thought my brain was going to explode. It's like, how in the Dickens am I going to do that? I took the art class at UMO for two years, and thank God, I had this. He was a wonderful, outstanding professor.” Having a degree was of no interest. Developing her art was everything.

Judy’s Baby


Judy loves animals. She loves watching the birds and animals outside her window … even the neighboring skunks. Creatures are often featured in her artwork. You’ll find birds, cats, and goats amidst her splashes of color, but one of her most impressive animal series was of elephants. She has a special affinity for those lumbering beasts. So much so that she recently adopted one!

Judy is now the proud “mama” of a six-month old elephant in Kenya. She researched many organizations that do work to help elephants at risk and chose to work with Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. They care for orphaned elephants until they reach an age where they can be released into the wild again.

Eastport Bound


Judy found her way to Eastport through artist friends. There is a lovely group of Bangor artists that summer in Eastport anchored by another Eastport Gallery member, Diana Young. Judy came and painted during her July vacations. On one vacation visit over 20 years ago she spotted a cottage for sale. The marvelous ocean views took her breath away and she decided to move to this easternmost city. Now she says she wouldn’t “leave this place for anything.” She is bound to this island and her circle of very supportive friends. And of course, Rosie her special dog, wouldn’t want to live anywhere else either.

While the last few years have been tough ones, Judy is feeling transformed and she says that the Judy her friends see now is the real Judy. She says that it is “all about love … the grief, the pain, it is all about love.”

Find Judy’s art for another moment at EAC (on exhibit through January 1, 2026) and always online at https://www.eastportgallery.com/judy-clendenning. In the summer season you will see her work at Eastport Gallery.