Judith Roth: A Life in Art

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Roth graduated from the Boston Museum School on scholarship, earned a BFA from Tufts University. Another scholarship was awarded before her senior year to attend Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Later she took classes at the School of the Art Institute (SAIC) and the Hyde Park Art Center.

Roth taught figure drawing and painting for many years at institutions including SAIC, Columbia College in Chicago, Suburban Fine Arts Center (now The Art Center) in Highland Park IL; The Figurative Art League, founded by Fred Berger, in Evanston IL; and Adler House in Libertyville IL.

She has been the recipient of many awards and purchase prizes including an Illinois Arts Council Project Completion Grant which culminated in a one-person show at the Illinois Arts Council, Chicago IL.

Widely exhibited, Roth's many exhibitions include Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, Virginia; Trenton State College, Trenton NJ; National Academy of Design, New York; Wright State University, Dayton OH, College of Lake County, Grayslake IL; J. Rosenthal Fine Arts, Ltd., Chicago IL.

Some of the many private and corporate collections that hold her art are: Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois; Sandoz/Novartis, AG, Switzerland; Illinois State Museum, Springfield IL; College of Lake County Foundation, Grayslake IL ; Schiff, Hardin & Waite, Chicago IL; Whole Health Management, Inc., Cleveland Ohio, Abbott Laboratories, etc.

As president of the Chicago Women's Caucus for Art (CWCA) 2001-2005, she founded The Ravenswood Corridor Arts & Industry Walk (now the greatly expanded Ravenswood ArtWalk (RAW), to engage her community via the CWCA, with Chicago Artists' Month, and in 2006 was appointed by Alderman Schulter to the CTA Brown Line "Arts in Transit" panel.That year she was also honored by the Ravenswood Community Council "in recognition and appreciation for outstanding dedication and service to the Ravenswood Community."

Featured in a two person show "Figures" at College of Lake County in 2009, she was an affiliate member of ARC Gallery, Chicago Illinois, one of the longest running women's cooperative galleries in the country, and showed a major collaborative piece at the gallery's Member's Show "Collaboration" in October in conjunction with the 2009 Chicago Artists' Month.

From 2004-2009 she had a large body of work on view at the Berman Center, a women's health and wellness facility founded by Dr. Laura Berman, at 211 E. Ontario St., Chicago IL, and in 2010 was honored by the Chicago Women's Caucus for Art for "Excellence in the Arts" as an artist, artist advocate, and founder of Ravenswood ArtWalk.

Image: Judith Roth