For the past four years, Judy has been selected by Early American Life Magazine for the Best Craftsman Award, awarded each year to the best 200 crafts people nationally who distinguish themselves for their master craftsmanship and adherence to historic accuracy.
For the past ten years, Judy has created heirloom quality pieces for furniture, fine art, and room surrounds. Drawing inspiration primarily from early American and European styles, her work includes marbleizing, hand-graining, gilding, milk paint, hand-cut stenciling, vinegar painting, tromp-loeil, and free- hand style.
Pennsylvania German fraktur is the centerpiece of Judy's design work. Fraktur comes from the German word for "fracture", a description applied to the broken look of letters done in early calligraphy. Based on a style practiced primarily by ministers and schoolmasters of 18th and 19th century Pennsylvania German communities, fraktur consists of symbols and calligraphic writing passed on from earlier European roots. Popular motifs, include birds, angels, tulips, mermaids and animals. Early scriveners, as many of the professional fraktur artists were called,often made their own pigments which was mixed with a type of gum binder made from the oak or cherry tree. Pigments were sometimes liquified in whiskey and mixed with iron salts to became iron gall ink. Using quill pens and brushes made from domestic cat hair, fraktur artists decorated deeds, baptisimal and marriage certificates (taufscheins), hymnals, writing samples (vorschrifts) and book plates. Laid paper, made from pulp pressed through a small mesh screen, was first used, replaced later by wove paper.
Based on extensive research, Judy's original watercolors reflect a thorough knowledge of the subject. Her original interpretations are available online, and through discriminating shops and galleries, including Four Winds Craft Guild and Sylvia Antiques on beautiful Nantucket, Massachusetts, where her originals are sold.
She has been a participant in The Newport Showhouse Guild Showhouse and has been featured in New England Showhouse, New England Interiors, Early American Life, and Cape Cod Life magazines.
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