Judith Scott (May 1, 1943 – March 15, 2005) was an American fiber sculptor, born with

Down Syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

and deaf. She was internationally renowned for her art. In 1987, Judith was enrolled at the Creative Growth Art Center in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, which supports people with developmental disabilities."Entwined: Sisters and Secrets in the Silent World of Artist Judith Scott" Beacon Press, Boston There, Judith discovered her passion and talent for abstract fiber art, and she was able to communicate in a new form. An account of Scott's life, ''Entwined: Sisters and Secrets in the Silent World of Artist Judith Scott'', was written by her twin sister, Joyce Wallace Scott, and was published in 2016.

Biography

Judith was born into a middle-class family in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

on May 1, 1943, along with her fraternal twin sister Joyce. Unlike Joyce, Judith was born with Down Syndrome. During her infancy, Judith had Scarlet Fever, which caused her to lose her hearing, a fact that remained unknown until much later on in her life. Judith Scott spent her first seven and a half years at home with her parents, twin sister and older brothers. Although the developmental gap between the two girls was apparent, "the parents consciously sought to treat these youngest members of the family alike."Joyce Wallace Scott: "Entwined:Sisters and Secrets in the Silent World of Artist Judith Scot" Beacon Press, Boston However, when it was time for the girls to start attending school, Judith was found to be "ineducable." There was only one classroom for children with disabilities, and Judith was not able to pass the verbally-based entrance tests, due to her still undiagnosed deafness. Consequently, on medical advice, her parents placed Judith in the Columbus State Institution (formerly the Columbus State School), an institution for mentally disabled people, on October 18, 1950. This separation had a profound effect on both twins. The records from Judith Scott's first few years at the Institution indicate that she had an IQ of 30 (based upon oral testing before her deafness was recognized). For this reason she was denied any training opportunities. Deprived of her twin, Judith became severely alienated, and behavioral problems soon surfaced. Her Clinical Record states that "She does not seem to be in good contact with her environment. She does not get along well with other children, is restless, eats messily, tears her clothing, and beats other children. Her presence on the ward is a disturbing influence." Soon after, she was moved to a smaller state institution at Gallipolis, Ohio. In 1985, after 35 years of complete separation and lengthy and difficult negotiations, Joyce Scott became her sister's legal guardian, and brought Judith to live with her in California, a state where all mentally disabled citizens are entitled to an ongoing education. Judith Scott died of natural causes at her sister's home in

Dutch Flat, California Dutch Flat (also, Dutchman's Flat, Dutch Charlie's Flat, and Charley's Flat) is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, United States, about northeast of Auburn along Interstate 80. It wa ...

, a few weeks short of her 62nd birthday. She outlived her life expectancy at birth by almost fifty years.

Art

On April 1, 1987, Judith Scott began attending the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, one of the first organizations in the world to provide studio space for artists with disabilities. For almost two years, Judith showed little interest in any artistic activity. She was unexceptional with paint. She scribbled loops and circles, but her work contained no representational imagery, and she was so uninterested in creating that the staff was considering ending her involvement with the program. It wasn't until Judith casually observed a

fiber art Fiber art (fibre art in British spelling) refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as ...

class conducted by visiting artist Sylvia Seventy, that she had her artistic breakthrough. Using the materials at hand, Judith spontaneously invented her own unique and radically different form of artistic expression. While other students were stitching, she was sculpting with an unprecedented zeal and concentration. Her creative gifts and absolute focus were quickly recognized, and she was given complete freedom to choose her own materials. Taking whatever objects she found, regardless of ownership, she would wrap them in carefully selected colored yarns to create diverse sculptures of many different shapes. Some resemble cocoons or body parts, while others are elongated totemic poles. Many of her works also feature pairs, reflecting Scott's experience as a twin. Judith worked on her art five days a week for eighteen years, producing over 200 pieces in total. Judith had her first exhibition in 1999, which coincided with the publication of John MacGregor's book ''Metamorphosis: The Fiber Art of Judith Scott''. Together, these events helped propel her to worldwide recognition.

Collections

Scott's work has become immensely popular in the world of outsider art, and her pieces sell for substantial sums. Scott is now hailed as a contemporary artist, no longer just an outsider. Her art is held in the permanent collections of many museums, including: Museum of Modern Art (Manhattan, New York), the

American Visionary Art Museum The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is an art museum located in Baltimore, Maryland's Federal Hill neighborhood at 800 Key Highway. The museum specializes in the preservation and display of outsider art (also known as "intuitive art," "raw ...

(Baltimore, Maryland),

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and wa ...

Museum of American Folk Art The American Folk Art Museum is an art museum in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at 2, Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. It is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of folk art and creative expressions of ...

(Manhattan, New York), Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art (Chicago, Illinois), Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA. L'Aracine Musee D'Art Brut (Paris, France), Art Brut Connaissance & Diffusion Collection (Paris and Prague),

Collection de l'art brut The Collection de l'art brut (literally "Collection of Raw Art"; sometimes referred to as "Musée de l'art brut") is a museum dedicated to outsider art located in Lausanne, Switzerland. See also * American Visionary Art Museum The American ...

(Lausanne, Switzerland).

Filmography

Exhibitions

Below is a list of select notable exhibitions for Judith Scott.

Solo exhibitions

* 2018 – ''Judith Scott: Touchdown'', Creative Growth Art Center, Oakland, California * 2014-15 – ''Bound and Unbound'', Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York * 2009 – ''Judith Scott: Retrospective'', Ricco Maresca Gallery, New York City, New York * 2002 – ''Cocoon: Judith Scott'', Ricco-Maresca Gallery, New York City, New York

Group exhibitions

* 2019 – ''Memory Palaces: Inside the Collection of Audrey B. Heckler'',

American Folk Art Museum The American Folk Art Museum is an art museum in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at 2, Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. It is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of folk art and creative expressions of ...

, New York City, New York * 2019 – ''The Doors of Perception'', Curated by Javier Téllez in collaboration with the

Outsider Art Fair The Outsider Art Fair or OAF is an international exhibition that features outsider artists who work in a variety of mediums. It is a biannual fair occurring in New York City and Paris, the former taking place in January and the latter in October. P ...

Frieze Art Fair Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...

, New York City, New York * 2019 – ''Flying High: Women Artists of Art Brut'', Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna * 2018 – ''Outliers and American Vanguard Art'', National Gallery of Art, Washington DC * 2017 – ''Forget Me Not: Judith Scott,'' Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, Georgia * 2017 – ''Viva Arte Viva'', the

57th Venice Biennale The 57th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2017. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Christine Macel, the chief curator at the Centre Pompi ...

, Venice, Italy * 2015 – Collection ABCD, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France * 2013 – ''Create'', Creative Growth Art Center, Oakland, California * 2013 – ''Create'',

Boca Raton Museum of Art Founded by artists, the Boca Raton Museum of Art was established in 1950 as the Art Guild of Boca Raton. The organization has grown to encompass an Art School, Guild, Store, and Museum with permanent collections of contemporary art, photography, ...

, Boca Raton, Florida * 2013 – ''Extreme Art'',

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The Aldrich has no permanent collection and is the only museum in Connecticut that is dedicated solely to the exhibition of contemporary art. The museum presents the first ...

, Ridgefield,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

* 2012 – ''Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos'', New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, New York * 2011 – ''World Transformers'',

Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt The Schirn Kunsthalle is a Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, located in the old city between the Römer and the Frankfurt Cathedral. The Schirn exhibits both modern and contemporary art. It is the main venue for temporary art exhibitions in Fr ...

, Frankfurt, Germany * 2000 – ''Visions'',

, Baltimore, Maryland * 2005 – Creative Growth, The Ricky Jay Broadside Collection,

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, nati ...

, San Francisco, California

References

External links

Judith Scott profile
Creative Growth Art Center

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Judith 1943 births 2005 deaths Deaf artists Outsider artists Women outsider artists American textile artists 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists People with Down syndrome Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area Women textile artists American deaf people