Education

Master Of Fine Arts in Fine Art (1994), Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Bachelor Of Fine Arts in Fine Art (1986), Studio Major, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Diploma In Graphic Design (1982), Kootenay School of Art, David Thompson University Centre, Nelson, B.C.

back to top

Solo Exhibitions

• 1998 - Judith Leidl: Dreamscapes, Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, Nova Scotia (Guest Curator, Edward Porter, Associate Professor of Art, NSCAD). Traveled to the University of New Brunswick, March 28 - May 2, 1999.
• 1997 - Judith Leidl: Selected Works On Paper, Engramme, Quebec City, Quebec
• 1994 - Judith J. Leidl: Final M.F.A. Exhibition - Works On Paper, Anna Leonowens Gallery 2, Halifax, Nova Scotia
• 1993 - Judith Leidl: Mixed Media Works On Paper, Manitoba Printmakers' Association Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 1991 - Judith Leidl: Etchings, Windsor Printmakers' Forum Gallery, Windsor, Ontario
• 1990 - Judith Leidl: Works On Paper, Open Studio Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
• 1986 - Judith Leidl: Etchings, Lithographs And Drawings, Dresden Galleries, Halifax, Nova Scotia
• 1986 - one and one, Anna Leonowens Gallery 2, Halifax, Nova Scotia

back to top

Collections

• Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia
• Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, British Columbia
• Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario
• Graphic Collection of the International Print Biennale, Varna, Bulgaria
• Graphic Collection of the International Print Biennial Maastricht, The Netherlands
• Graphic Collection of the International Exhibition of Graphic Art, Frechen, Germany
• Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Nova Scotia Art Bank, Halifax, Nova Scotia
• St. Michael's Printshop, St. John's, Newfoundland
• Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales, Australia
• Ukrainian Independent Center for Contemporary Art, Lviv, Ukraine
• Windsor Printmakers' Forum, Windsor, Ontario
• Various private collections in Canada and abroad

back to top

Professional Experience

• Instructor of Drawing, Art Department, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, 1998-present.
• Acquisitions Committee, Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, NS, 1998.
• Artist-in-Residence, Engramme: Centre de production en estampe, Diffusion en art actuel, Quebec City, Quebec, 1997.
• Visiting Artist, Paints Program (Professional Artists in the Schools), administered by VANS (Visual Arts Nova Scotia), at Hillside Park Elementary School, Lower Sackville, NS, 1996: Worked with teacher in assisting students in conceptualizing and initial design for two eventually successful proposals (Primary to Grade 3, Grades 4-6) on ecology theme for Metro Transit Colour-a-Bus Contest.
• Image used in feature, Two If By Sea, a Morgan Creek Production, 1995.
• Guest Artist, Technical University of Nova Scotia (T.U.N.S.), 1994.
• Coordinating Committee for the Far and Wide Exhibition, Dartmouth Heritage Museum, Nova Scotia, 1994.
• Visiting Artist, St. Michael's Printshop, St. John's, Newfoundland, 1993.
• Guest Lecturer, Textile Department, Cabot College, St. John's, Newfoundland, 1993.
• Jury Member, Nova Scotia Art Bank, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1992.
• Guest Artist, Windsor Printmakers' Forum, Windsor, Ontario, 1991.
• Instructor of Printmaking workshops through the Continuing Education Department of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, 1986-present.
• Technician, Open Studio for Professional Printmakers, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, 1987-91.
• Newsletter, Coordinator and Founding Board member, Nova Scotia Printmakers' Association, 1988-92; 1988-present.
• Proprietor and Master Printer at Leidl Works Intaglio Printers, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1987-89.
• Printer at Wheston Intaglio Printers, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1986-87.
• Graphic Artist/Silkscreen Printer, David Thompson University Centre, Nelson, B.C., 1981-82.

back to top

Reviews & Essays

A catalogue essay by Edward Porter, Associate Professor, NSCAD, Guest Curator for "Dreamscapes: Works on Paper," Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, 1998

Judith Leidl is a poet. She is a visual poet who uses multiple marks on paper to give form to an idea, just as a literary poet uses multiple words. The poetry, which she has created, begins from the personal and is then transformed through her visualization into the universal. This goal, the goal of all artists, is a quality that Judith intuitively understands and achieves through her compelling personal style of image making. Two questions come to mind at this point. What are the factors that contribute to such a marvelously inventive visual style that permeate this artist's visual language? And, what are the sources that have kindled the motivational fire, which has given such a strong momentum to Judith's imagery?

In the work these two aspects are inseparable, but as a way of trying to comprehend some of these factors I shall first address the question of the sources and the nature of Judith's interests. Her own words from the statement accompanying her solo MFA exhibition at the Anna Leonowen Gallery (Halifax) of March 1994 are very candid and serve as an excellent initial point of departure for our informal viewing of her art.

"Dreams, desires, fears, fantasies and everyday experiences are the sources from which I derive my images. I then combine fragments from each, most often in an unconscious way, to form an alternate reality in which anything is possible."

We see the artist as very much alive and alert to the reality of her human existence, a reality that embraces both the external life as well as the powerful internal world of desires, fears and fantasies. The seamless fabric of her imagery combining these two worlds, is a fundamental axiom of her thought and expression. Her ideas evolve from the continuous questioning that she exercises in her ongoing desire to better understand and cope with life and the questions for which there are no absolute answers. Mankind has always tried to find an explanation for that which we observe about us and that which we feel within us. Out of this search, most civilized societies have developed acceptable working explanations, which we term mythologies or religions.

In her search for personally relevant understanding, Judith is a myth maker. Her myth making is not drawn from a convention of our culture, but rather is a very personal mythic construct, which allows her to address those concerns, which are foremost to her life at this moment in time. This creative power is driven by her survival instinct, an instinct that tells her that personal well-being can be continued through the exercise of this creative means of facing the disparity between hope and fear, between personal aspirations and limited possibilities, between dream and daily-existence. This personal power gives her the will to continue, to have faith, and to continue this creative process.

The purpose of her art making is to make intelligible that which seems unintelligible, in short, to make a myth. The exercise of visual transformations gives dramatic strength to those figurative images, while they are simultaneously being defined and masked by the profuse descriptive detail. The use of animalistic features, especially in describing faces and hands, is a masterfully understood means of giving pointed emphasis to the role of the figures in these images. While making some aspects of the mythic telling more vivid and emotional, at the same time this masking achieves a depersonalization of the figure, allowing it to be understood on a more universal basis. This aspect of the imagery brings to mind the power achieved by masked participants in ritualistic enactment evident in primitive and not-so-primitive societies.

There is a duality usually present in Judith Leidl's work that uses a playfulness of description to serve as a foil or mask over the underlying serious pursuit. As painter, Harold Town has stated, "the poet is concerned with revelation," and, by the very nature of her inquiry into herself and her world, this is exactly what the artist has achieved, both for herself and for those who bear witness to her visual expression. This consistent notion of revelation is the solid bedrock of Judith's myth-like imagery and is a revelation that happens on many levels within each piece. This gives a depth of meaning and delight to the telling and brings us back yet again to find more to learn from the same finely detailed image.

The compelling fascination which Judith Leidl's art holds for me is the strongly consistent characteristic of her innovative style. In one of her earlier prints, Woman in a Carpet , one can readily make the association with that of a woven fabric. The fine etching needle marks, which fill the entire area of the image, are suggestive of a painstakingly executed tapestry. In addition, the emphatic border surrounding the central image is very reminiscent of traditional Persian carpet pattern and form. The implication which one makes of these associations with woven fabric and with the implications of historic and cultural references, add depth and fascination to our reading of this image with it's dominant figure and playful patterning of marks.

As one takes in the work that Judith has continued to make, the importance of both the incessant mark and the emphatic enclosing border become evident. This border has moved from serving as a part of the tapestry surface to becoming a framing motif that creates the feeling of spatial separation. It is as if the central action depicts a theatrical drama on a stage separated from the viewer by a decorative surrounding element. As with a skilled dramatist who is able to cause the audience to suspend its disbelief with a convincing piece of theater, Judith Leidl is able to create a convincing world of her imagery in a dramatic narrative context. The border of collage elements helps to set the stage of her story telling in its own special space and, by a mysterious transference, appears to give a multicolored veneer to the whole work. Judith, in talking about the print, Women in the Shadow World, describes the image as "an attempt to visually describe isolation and fear by exploring the dark side of dreams..." This description takes the form of a frame within a frame, which both isolates and protects the central female figure. The artist has discovered numerous roles for the framing idea and continues to explore and expand its relevance.

However, I feel it is in the role of the mark-maker that the artist brings her personal touch to create that visual language which is so much her own. The roles of myth maker and mark-maker are inseparable. The purposeful density of mark is very much a part of the perceived depth of reference within the story-telling context. One aspect of this surface density is to mask the stark definition of figure with a playful patterning of textural areas. In turn, this pattern of mark and area invariably creates another level of visual fascination. As well, it lends an element of ambiguity to the definition of the main players in the image; it also creates another level of narrative reference when a close inspection of the descriptive or symbolic references in the minutiae of this tightly woven fabric are revealed as significant sub-plots to the central storytelling.

With these many interacting factors, there is a visual transcendence of the stark reality of the core image which, to my mind, is the quality of poetic subtlety that combines the veils of layered reference with the dynamic imagery of the artist's wrestling with the fundamental concerns of her own life. Yes, Judith Leidl's concern is revelation, but a revelation that is only gained by a commitment on the part of the viewer to comprehend through repeated looking and questioning. One better understands a written poem through rereading and reconsideration. This same persistent involvement will reward the viewer of the visual works, which this artist has conjured from her inner being and set before us with such dramatic force clothed in the delicate garb of mark-making delight.

These dreamscapes and mythic dramas open our eyes to a special individual vision, but the vision is one in which the reverberations of our own experiences can be heard and then the universality of these images can be felt and the flowers of understanding will begin to fill our mind.

Edward Porter, May 1998

Edward Porter has been Associate Professor of Art at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design since 1971.

back to top

Artist's Statement

Dreams, desires, fears, fantasies and everyday experiences are the sources from which I derive my images. I then combine fragments from each, most often in an unconscious way, to form an alternate reality in which anything is possible. Within this "other" reality I am free to rework my life experiences, to explore various possible endings to certain real-life scenarios, to experiment with different ways of seeing, and hopefully to present alternate solutions to current problems.

Frequently, I find myself looking at human beings in relation to animals, the ways in which we interact, the ways in which we contrast, and more importantly the ways in which we are alike. Human beings often appear in my work as strange kinds of creatures, half human and half animal. As with Picasso's Minotaur, the animal struggles within the human being. In by images, though, I attempt to convey a more comfortable union of human and beast. I see great power and beauty in this "animal" union, and this in turn reflects my own concern and affinity for nature.

Another important aspect of my work is its attempt to create a personal myth about the origin and existence of the natural world. In a sense, much of my work represents a return to a kind of Garden of Eden; but here, animals and humans not only co-exist in a state of innocence but are really one and the same.

To varying degrees, my interest and affinity for textile design has been reflected in my art work. Often I draw from (without directly reproducing) the old designs of Europe and Asia, for example. Part of the allure of these designs is found in their imperfection - mistakes are allowed to occur which only serve to add to the work's beauty and richness. Similarly, I try to make use of the imperfections that occur as I create an etching. "Accidental" scratches, marks or lines which at first occur at random, are often incorporated within the image, sometimes leading to surprising insights.

back to top

Selected Excerpts
From Reviews

"[Judith Leidl's] multi-media brand of etchings, collage and drawing don't let up. Larger messages are incrementally built upon layers and layers of suggestive and repetitive symbols; flowers, circles, scratches, stars and swirls. United in format at first, the change and individuality of each piece deepens with every layer." David Redwood, Reviewer for Visual Arts News, Vol. 20, No.3, Autumn 1998, pp. 24-25.

"Judith Leidl's collaged etchings and mixed media pieces deserve a show of their own, though they fit in with both the Mainstream and the Roots and Culture themes running through Contemporary Artists. Leidl's recent works represent an exciting growth for the printmaker: she has retained her signature use of decorative motifs while literally breaking out of her borders, by collaging fragments of brightly coloured paper and earlier prints, onto the irregularly-shaped surfaces. ... The result is an astonishingly vibrant, vital style which reverberates deeply within the viewer's mind. It seems that the artist's frustrated anger has burst onto the page, and then burst the page itself . . . but each of these pieces has been painstakingly drawn and over drawn in a time-consuming process . . . " Kathy Mac, Writer/Editor, Visual Arts News, Vol.14, No. 3, Autumn 1992, p. 19.

". . . . Judith Leidl already demonstrates the decisive individuality, the disciplined unfolding of a distinctive vision . . . These accomplished etchings, lithos, drawings, aquatints and collages are evidence of a dense and sophisticated visual language. . . Leidl's handling of spatial composition is very interesting, utterly abandoning any reference with conventional Renaissance space for a linear narrative space more characteristic of hieroglyphics, petroglyphs and Inuit art. . . Leidl's men and women ornament themselves with neckties and necklaces, and with earrings and other erotic piercings. Small textural marks, representing body hair, dreams, and sexual attributes are contained within a fluid outline. The overall effect is an exuberant celebration of pattern." Robin Metcalf, Curator/Writer, Artsatlantic #28, Spring 1987, p.11. Review of Judith Leidl - Etchings, Lithographs and Drawings, Dresden Galleries, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1986.

back to top