Judith Spater on Preserving Beauty in Nature Through Her Work
By Sandy Libertini, Grange Insurance Audubon Center engagement manager
Judith Spater has a longtime background as a mental health professional. She has a master’s degree in landscape architecture, and now combines her passion for wildlife conservation with her love of art and design. Her work is currently featured in the Grange Insurance Audubon Center’s Art at Audubon exhibition It Just Gets Better, featuring paintings and drawings dedicated to the beauty and preservation of nature through Feb. 28.
Sandy: What prompted you to pursue your present art form?
Judith: I can’t recall a time when observing and drawing were not a part of my life. The beauty of the world, its patterns and the play of light arrest my imagination daily. I was exposed as a child to a variety of gorgeous places. My grandparents’ Ohio farm and gardens, southern Florida, Alaska, the Pennsylvania mountains and high desert of northern Texas all introduced me to a variety of different ecosystems and cultures. I was fortunate to have teachers in my early years who encouraged creativity with challenging approaches to art instruction. My parents were both amateur artists and art was always a part of our lives.
Sandy: What is your process for creating?
Judith: It varies. Sometimes a concept or image simply presents itself in a dream or waking moment and I make a note or sketch to develop it later. Sometimes I just play with the medium and color and see what happens. Out in the woods, I allow the feeling of my surroundings to develop into the image on the canvas, observing carefully what I see. Once I begin drawing or painting, the experience is transcendent in a way, which I love. It is all about the image and the feeling being conveyed.
Sandy: What is the importance of art to you?
Judith: Visual and performing arts are how we humans express ourselves to others and to ourselves. Art can convey a call to action regarding human affairs. It questions, it celebrates, it inspires, it heals. It gives us solace and joy, and it connects us to one another and to our best selves. Public art provides a sense of place, a destination for gathering. Art museums, theaters, cultural venues, art education centers and public gallery spaces are the heart and soul of a community.
Sandy: What do you hope to communicate through your art?
Judith: The current exhibit at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center, It Just Gets Better, is designed to reinforce the urgency for us to recognize and celebrate our connection to and dependence on our ecosystem and to inspire people to make a positive difference in the health of our environment, and our own in the process.
Sandy: How does this exhibition tie in with your background as a mental health professional and landscape designer?
Judith: As a mental health professional, I saw firsthand the positive impact that interacting with the natural environment has on physical and psychological health. I am concerned that the current generations are spending more time in front of screens than outside in natural settings. This is having a negative effect on our emotional and physical well-being.
My intention in landscape design has long been to increase the use of native plants to create more sustainable environments for both plant and animal life and the humans who live in and with them. Our health — physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual — is so intrinsically dependent on a healthy natural environment. How could it be otherwise? We are OF Earth!
Sandy: What are your favorite things about art in Columbus?
Judith: I am impressed by the abundance of public art in Columbus, the availability of performance and visual art venues and educational facilities, and the support given for the arts by community organizations and institutions. We are so rich in opportunity here in central Ohio!
Judith’s exhibition It Just Gets Better is on display free of charge at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center (505 W. Whittier St.), Jan. 9 through Feb. 23 during Center operating hours. Exhibition pieces are for sale with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Grange Insurance Audubon Center and the work they do to preserve and protect the places birds, wildlife and people need today and tomorrow.
This article is part of a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council as part of the Art Makes Columbus campaign. Explore a calendar of events, public art database and artist stories at columbusmakesart.com. To learn more about GCAC grants visit gcac.org.