Judy Byron is a multimedia artist and activist based in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Her work has been recognized by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, the

Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, is one of six Non-profit organization, not-for-profit Regional arts council (RAO), regional arts organizations funded by the National Endowment for ...

and the

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) is an agency of the District of Columbia government. , the Interim Executive Director is David Markey. CAH was created as an outgrowth of the U.S. Congress Act that established the National Fo ...

Early life and education

Byron was born in

North Syracuse, New York North Syracuse is a village in Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,739. North Syracuse is located in the towns of Cicero and Clay, north of the city of Syracuse. History The village was origi ...

and grew up in a working-class Italian Irish family. She received her bachelor's degree in speech and drama from

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca (town), New York, Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a Music school, conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment program ...

Ithaca, NY Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistic ...

and studied printmaking at the

Corcoran School of the Arts and Design The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.Peggy McGloneUniversity names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts a ...

in Washington, D.C. After receiving her B.A., Byron volunteered for Gene McCarthy and the California farm workers. When she moved to Washington, D.C., Judy Byron worked as a teacher at Cardozo High School. She is married to photographer Rick Reinhard.

Art

Byron has consciously moved away from traditional gallery spaces and displays her work in public spaces and her home. Byron's work consists of mostly drawings and portraits and she engages in an interactive process with the people and spaces represented in her work. For example, in her project “One to One” (1992–1993) Byron worked with DC-area teenagers to create large portraits; she visited them at a place in which they were comfortable and documented the moment with photographs. The teenagers then visited Byron's studio as she created these portraits and took part in a writing workshop with playwright and artist Rebecca Rice. Byron has collaborated with other artists throughout her projects, such as poet Chasen Gaver and, as mentioned above, Rebecca Rice. Byron uses a variety of materials, such as crayon, wood, and paper. She has employed several techniques for her projects, such as printmaking, engraving, woodcutting, and photography. Her art focuses around themes of identity, belonging, growing up, and everyday rural or city life. In 1993, Byron received a $33,000 commission from the North Carolina Council for the Arts to create sixteen woodblock rubbings based on photos of North Carolinians. For the project, Byron spent two weeks traveling in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

taking the photographs she would use for carving the woodblocks.

Corcoran Artist Mentorship Program

Judy Byron studied at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design and later taught a course in “collaborative art”. She later founded the Corcoran Artist Mentorship Program, which was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts and the

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was an advisory committee to the President of the United States on cultural issues. It works directly with the White House and the three primary cultural agencies: the National End ...

Activism

In the 1980s, Byron was involved in starting the DC-based group, Black Artists/White Artists, which met to discuss issues of race and art. Judy Byron's activism is incorporated into her artistic projects. Her project “One to One” incorporated a mentorship component for the teenagers who participated, including journal-writing workshops. In 1988, Byron created a

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

for an

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

awareness campaign with the slogan “AIDS touches us all”, which was displayed around Washington, DC.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byron, Judy 21st-century American women artists American contemporary artists Activists from Washington, D.C. American portrait artists Ithaca College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Artists from Syracuse, New York Multimedia artists Women multimedia artists Photographers from Washington, D.C. Corcoran School of the Arts and Design alumni