We were lucky to catch up with Judith Brassard Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.
Judith Brassard , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The book, The Path Through, a dialog of paintings and poetry on the subject of trauma, has recently been published and accompanies my exhibition (of the same name) at Kingston Gallery in Boston. The form and structure of the book was proposed by my son, Ezra Pryor as a way to understand the nature of my work, to expand on my artist statement,
“While paintings may appear traditional at first glance, they do not recreate a specific location or event. Rather, each provides connections across boundaries of time or captured moments, contrasts what we see with what we sense below the surface. Their qualities may activate our capacity to connect with others or our own buried emotions, to heal and accept from our vantage point.”
Ezra suggested we use or adapt Kubler-Ross’ stages of grief as the stages for working with and repairing from trauma. He settled on the six categories, Shock and Denial; Pain and Guilt; Anger and Bargaining; Depression; Reconstruction; and Working Through Hope and Acceptance. He would write the poetry for each of the stages and then I would choose the paintings to accompany each poem.
Many of the most recent paintings are in the book, but I’ve also included works from much farther back. It has been a wonderful experience to work with him on this project, but I’m also very gratified by the response I have gotten from others on how the book has resonated and helped them.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I know early and then successive traumas have been the fuel for my artistic expression, has driven me to make images that provide meditative spaces to untangle the messy business of being human. Making pictures is so primal. I, like others who persist in choosing this path, feel an urgent imperative to create images that provide safe haven, and understanding-for me as well as the viewers and their stories. I believe in the healing power of these images. I believe with all my heart, that healing can come from making, viewing, and engaging with art.
Traumas of all kinds are so complex, nuanced and multilayered, they can feel impossible to untangle. Each of our traumas involve any combination of family relationships, illness, war, racism, neglect, deprivation, abuse, loss, or other influences. While the particulars matter to each of us, what we all have in common is how trauma builds on trauma, impacts our ability to process our experiences, stay balanced, calm, and present. If we are able to acknowledge and do the work to heal, we learn new ways of coping, foster compassion for ourselves, and others.
I suppose what sets me apart is my drive to connect with and support others as a teacher and a maker. And this recent project is geared to support others as they make their way in life.
I am currently on sabbatical year and my goal is make my work more accessible through my website, social media and gallery shows at Kingston in Boston and at the Robert Collins Gallery in Rockport, MA.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When you take on life as a creative, its all about the pivot or creative problem solving. When finding a gallery seemed an impossible quest, I became involved in Boston’s first cooperative gallery, the Bromfield, before it opened with its first exhibition.
When rent hikes and gentrification pushed us out of our loft in the south end, it led to buying a rundown building with three other artists, where I still live and work. Ezra grew up there. While it was leaky, chaotic and in need of constant repair, it was a wonderful environment for our family and the artists who worked there.
Most of our challenges have morphed into opportunities. And while, there was little financial stability until I was in my mid-forties, it has been more than worth the challenges.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The first is my investment in myself personally and professionally. I started EMDR therapy ten years ago and that has helped me personally process and repair in ways that are gifts to my family and students. It has also been worth the discomfort to peel back the layers and repair., provides an example that change is possible at any age. The gains I’ve made here also contribute to the art I’m now making, these wild mixed media collages that are joyful paeans to the everyday.
The second is to make my artwork more accessible to others through my new websites and social media. And to create online classes and community groups for my students.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.judithbrassardbrownartwork.com, judithbrassardbrown.com, https://www.kingstongallery.com/judith-brassard-brown
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/judith3635/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judith.b.brown.5
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Path-Through-Paintings-Poetry-Subject-ebook/dp/B0CNKWBSP5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ZENM5DD8IMVD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.OTibTLtwogPagrapy1_0LKnNtv71_JtrKuY5XgSDyTgS8goOhN0rHfbnm2zt52W87Glr0iK-MEoLlxLEKAFxSAvVrlF6IZ07-gz7nMbRC8zHIkb9UoiH08jNQ2ziUG6hGDPSYqMZyGK3ljCmCs7t2xDK2s6Po3ZOV10NXxg46dJr5LQBugXtc6JhL610LfYfUab7muodjglKFRjS1lHRm79-wpK_TfZ8Ozwu2H62u2I.juZSuToCZjix70wq0diVEWj41myB3IZYPgY8WaWZZW8&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+path+through+pryor&qid=1712424555&s=books&sprefix=the+path+through+pryor+%2Cstripbooks%2C144&sr=1-1