Just as we expect the seasons to change around us, the Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center is moving forward and cleaning house to display new and exciting artwork in their halls. This time, they’re highlighting an Ohio artist who embodies nature through her work across many mediums.

The dynamic, large scale works by Cleveland-based artist Judith Brandon demonstrate the power of nature, with the fury and intensity we are coming to see as normal. However, balanced with the destructive capacity are the healing and life-giving elements of the natural world.

“We are all subjects of nature. Nature balances devastation with healing and life-giving; it restores horror with glory and beauty,” Brandon explained.

Judith Brandon paints on heavy paper using a combination of inks, pastels, water media with additional etched elements incised into the paper. The work is powerful and evocative.

According to SOMACC, Brandon blends weather phenomena with the fear, passion, excitement, and sentiment that weather evokes in the humans who are affected by tornados, hurricanes, and fires. The artist does not permit us to be innocent bystanders when viewing these landscapes. We are drawn into the emotional drama.

However, the paintings are not just about the force of nature and the emotional response; Judith also addresses the geometric patterning found in the world around us, the divine language of the universe. The paper is scored and etched with patterns and wording reflecting the forces at work in the universe.

“The geometry of a hurricane is the same spiral as a conch shell or a sunflower,” the artist claimed.

Fascinated by vibrations emitted by nature, the measured frequencies that connect humans to the natural world, Brandon draws upon these ethereal forces and connections as inspiration.

“This is an important artist whose work is dynamic and powerful. Judith’s stormy skies work on both a literal and metaphorical level, speaking to all audiences,” Charlotte Gordon, SOMACC Artistic Director, stated. “The Southern Ohio Museum embraces its role to not only support local artists, but to also bring to the region contemporary art being created elsewhere for those who would otherwise not have the opportunity to see it. We are eager for our community to experience this work and to hear their response to it.”

The exhibition is currently on display at the Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center. The museum is at 825 Gallia Street in Portsmouth. There is also a handicapped accessible entry point on Sixth Street. They are open Tuesday through Friday, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. There is a voluntary donation of $2, but the museum galleries are always free to the public. A member of the museum may be reached at 740.354.5629.

Judith Brandon will be at an artist’s reception on Saturday, October 14, 2-5 p.m., during the final Second Saturday Art Walk of 2023.

For more information call 740-354-5629.

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.