A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

Where I Work

In the Studio with Judy Ledgerwood (MFA 1984)

by Bridget Esangga

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Judy Ledgerwood’s (MFA 1984) work is anything but quiet. Her paintings of jewel-toned quatrefoils, circles, and seed-like shapes suggestive of feminine power pop against the stark white wall of the new studio she shares with her husband Tony Tasset (MFA 1985) in Sawyer, Michigan. This summer Ledgerwood and Tasset sold their home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois, and purchased a smaller home and larger studio, striking the ideal work/life balance since their son left for college. Looking around the spacious, light-filled studio, the award-winning artist who recently donated three paintings to the Art Institute of Chicago wonders aloud whether her paintings will become quieter in her new studio. She decides, “What motivates me to make paintings has to do with the art world and issues in the art world, and it’s hard to be quiet right now.” 

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It's hard to look out this window and not think about landscape and tropes of the sublime when there's a 60-foot pine outside. It has so much power and presence.

Judy Ledgerwood