When asked as a child what she wanted to be when she grew up, artist Judith Eloise Hooper responded, “Happy.”  Today, she says, “Living and working as an artist in NYC has given me that childhood dream.” Throughout her work – be it sculpture, topographic landscape, collage, ceramics or works on paper, Hooper seems to celebrate life.
Her hand sculptures – some functional, others patterned after the symbols used by American Sign Language speakers – are hand-sculpted from two types of earthenware: grog-infused clay with subtle variations in color and an overall terra cotta look and sand-colored stoneware. Of these, Hooper says: “Hands are silent speakers, communicating through touch and gesture, saying what words often can’t.”
Of the landscapes, she says: “I want everyone to be able to look at landscapes, whether farmland or cracks in the sidewalk, not as the earth’s crust but as a delicate skin embracing the earth. My landscapes are a reminder of our world as something living and breathing and as something that produces life and the natural beauty in that life, whether it’s planned and planted or simply forces its way to the surface.”
With “The River Green,” Hooper beautifully marries the two series.
For more information on Judith Eloise Hooper, visit www.JudithEloiseHooper.com or Judith.Hooper.BrooklynArtist.com or JudithEloiseHooper.etsy.com.