JUDY O’DELL is a visual artist and writer who lives in Rockport, Maine, and Laporte, Pennsylvania. She has been making photographs and journaling since childhood. Inspiration for her work comes from the nearby forests, ocean, rivers, and streams. Her photographs and writing reflect her varied interests in philosophy, history, geography, geology, hydrology, botany, physics, and wildlife. Judy holds a BA in Economics from Immaculata University. As a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) working with privately owned businesses, she is naturally curious about the industries that were once in these places, how people made their living there, how the land was used, abused, repurposed, and what remains. She began serious study of photography in 2000 at the Corcoran in Washington, DC and after numerous workshops at Maine Media she completed her MFA at Maine Media College in 2020. She photographs and writes about not only the beauty but also the stories and memories in her backyards.
In 2022 she began working in book arts, using photographs and other materials in her work.
She published Goose River Field Notes, a collection of photographs and essays, in 2020. Her essays have been published in The Goose River Anthology in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
In 2023 she published Curley Visits Lake Mokoma, a collection of photographs and stories about summer at the lake as a fundraiser for Mokoma Conservancy and Lake Mokoma Association.
PUBLICATIONS
Self-published book, Goose River Field Notes, 2020
Self -published book, Curley Visits Lake Mokoma, 2023
Zine- 30 Square Miles
PRESENTATIONS
Maine Poets Corner, August 9, 2020, ZOOM presentation of photographs and reading essays from Goose River Field Notes
GROUP SHOWS
2024
Praxis Gallery Black and White Show
Camden, Maine Library Accordion Book Show “Belfast and Moosehead Lake”
Art of the State, State Museum of Pennsylvania “Alphabet Soup” accordion book
Penn Bay Medical Center call for artists- 30 Square Miles photos
2023
Pen Bay Medical Center call for artists - Goose River Photos
Penn Tech College 100 Miles Show- “Tree Portraits” Accordion Book
2022
Maine Photo Show
Praxis Gallery Annual Members Salon
Camera Work- Trees and Water
2021
Praxis Gallery, Annual Praxis Members Salon,
The Griffin Museum, Boston, Juried Photo Book Show, Goose River Field Notes
2020
Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY, Juried Photo Book Show, Goose River Field Notes
VOTE, Lenscratch
2019
The Maine Photography Juried Show
Older
Prairie Village Museum, Rugby, ND
Henry Knox Museum, Thomaston, Maine
Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco
Onslow County, NC Arts Council Juried Show
Chestertown, MD Arts League Juried Show
SOLO SHOWS
Somewhere and Nowhere, PNC Bank Building, Chestertown, MD, 2013
Belleau Wood, Camp Lejeune Officers Club, NC, 2004
AWARDS
Maine Photograph Show, Best Black and White
Onslow County Art Council, NC, Honorable Mention, Black and White
Chestertown, MD Arts League, Best Film
Chestertown MD Arts League, Best Mixed Media
