Judy Gates, Textile Artist
SOUTH PORTLAND

Overview

As a plant scientist by education and an environmental policy professional by trade, I’m continually inspired by natural landscapes. A relative introduced to the natural world and horses in my pre-teen years and I’ve never looked back. As I’ve progressed from botany student and nascent outdoors person to an environmentally-focused regulator, policy advisor, and planner, I’ve maintained a sense of wonder about nature’s forms and functions. Parallel to this progression, I’ve created useful objects from beautiful materials, whether it’s quilts from fabric or socks from yarn. I’ve gone as far as owning small flock of sheep and fiber rabbits, spinning their coats to satisfy my creative cravings. The days of owning animals are in my past (except for my adopted Greyhound!), but I’ve never lost the sense of taking something that is in one form and making it into another, hence fabric to collage. My first go at fabric collage followed my becoming acquainted with Kate Furbish, a late 18th century/early 19th century botanist who traveled through Maine on her own to catalogue native wildflowers. She was atypical for her time, traveling alone and for weeks at a time, using watercolor and charcoal to document the unique plants she found. I find her drawings compelling and her fortitude inspiring. These are attributes I try to apply every time I sit down at my table to start a collage. In the spirit of taking risks, I started to consider myself an artist in 2021 and shortly thereafter began to look for venues to display and sell my work. I still work in a corporate world part-time, which really cuts into my creative pursuit, but I’m planning for a full metamorphosis in 2025.