Judith Shaw, a New Orleans native and graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, has always been interested in myth, culture and mysticism. Her work, inspired by nature, ancient wisdom traditions and the goddess, combines whimsy and the esoteric - whimsical tree paintings which often look like women dancing are intertwined with esoteric symbols such as those found in sacred geometry. Shaw lives in Albuquerque where she divides her time between painting, writing, yoga, gardening, selling real estate, and hanging out with friends and family. She has also lived in Mexico where her love of the bright colors of New Orleans was reinforced and intensified. After graduating from SFAI she moved to Greece, where the goddess first began to appear in her work. In 2020, Shaw created a tree mural with 4th and 5th graders at Hawthorne Elementary School, as an adjunct to their teacher’s participation in the Gardens in the Schools program. Through working with school children Shaw hopes to raise their awareness about the importance of trees to our world. In 2017 Shaw published her Celtic Goddess Oracle deck which is receiving excellent reviews from customers. She is hard at work on her next oracle deck - Animal Wisdom- while continuing to write and blog on the Goddess, mythology and folktales. Shaw’s work has been used on several book covers, in calendars and is available in a variety of print forms. Shaw’s work has been exhibited in San Francisco, Athens, New York, Taos, New Orleans, Santa Fe and Albuquerque and can be found in private collections worldwide.
Since reading When God Was A Woman in the early 70′s I have continued my visual exploration of the role of the Goddess in our modern world. Since my very first oil painting of a tree I have created an ongoing painting series of trees. In my work I continue to see my early influences of Jackson Pollack’s abandon, Van Gogh’s emotionality, and my studies of myth and world culture. My style is one of abandon within control. The images are at times discovered in the process of painting at other times come from pre-planning and sketching. Always there is an element of destruction and re-finding as each piece reflects a fine balance between control and letting go. My work is layered and textured with paint and ancient symbols. My inspirations come from the ancient wisdom and visual symbols of many cultures, the goddess, sacred geometry, and the deep beauty of the natural world. My intent is to present a vision of a world that lives in balance - a world in which the connection between all life is recognized and honored - a world in which the physical is recognized as a manifestation of the spiritual. My work is layered - with paint, with feelings of body and soul as one whole, the indescribable nature of existence and the interconnectedness of all life.
