Judith O’Dell
Artist statement
I came to book arts as a photographer, using the handmade or digitally printed book form to allow the viewer to hold and examine my photos and text. Books— physical books —have always been an essential part of my life. In my handmade books, the structure or function of the traditional book serves as inspiration for expressing my ideas. As a writer, I incorporate text. I enjoy choosing materials and the tactile experience of cutting, pasting, and sewing. Some of my books have a traditional format in which a story is told by turning pages. Others are more sculptural, using images, letterpress, handwriting, cutouts, and antique and painted paper. My books present two ideas for viewers to consider. First, each book is a made object that nods to what a book does: inviting the reader in. The second idea is narrative, sometimes straightforward and sometimes up to the viewer to discern. My books combine structure and narrative to produce a work of art.
Biography
Judy O’Dell is a visual and book artist and writer who has been photographing since she was eight years old. In 2020, she took her first photography workshop at Maine Media Workshops, and she has played with analog black-and-white photography, alternative processes, large-format, pinhole, plastic, digital, and iPhone cameras, and handmade books. She earned her MFA from Maine Media College in 2020. Her thesis project was Goose River Field Notes, a book of photographs and essays centered on the river that runs through her backyard, which was juried into the 2020 Davis Orton Gallery Photobook Show and exhibited online at the Griffin Museum. In 2023, she published Curley Visits Lake Mokoma, a book of photographs and nature writing to benefit a local Conservancy. In 2024, she published 30 Square Miles, a Zine to assist Citizens Against Residential Mining in Union, Maine.
Her interests span geology, hydrology, physics, geomorphology, archeology, botany, weather, wildlife, history, and historic photographs and postcards. She explores and photographs from her homes in Rockport, Maine, and the Pennsylvania mountains, using whatever camera suits her mood. Her essays capture the facts, observations, and memories triggered by being in these places. Her photographs are images of time —both past and present — and are incorporated into her handmade artist books.
The Baylor University Library purchased her book, Winter Woodswalk. She has exhibited her books at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Penn Tech College Gallery, Wayne Art Gallery in Pennsylvania, Michael Good Gallery, Camden, Maine Library, Rockland, Maine Library, Blue Hill, Maine Library, and the New England Book Artists’ Small Impressions show.
Judith resides in Rockport, Maine and Laporte, Pennsylvania
Website: Judyodellphoto.com
Email: Judithodell86@gmail.com
Instagram: @odelljudy
Facebook: Judy O’Dell
Checkmate- double sided accordion book, 5 ¼” by 5 ¼”, photographs of an outdoor chess set, back side is a mock chess game. Edition of 2
Erratics- double sided accordion book with two inserts, 6”x6”, black and white photos of erratic rocks and text, edition of 1.
Maine Boats, one sided accordion book, 6” x 8”, drawings on dry point pages, letterpress, edition of 2.
My Meadow in August, one sided accordion book, 5” x 7”, cyanotype images of flowers and text, edition of 1.
Navy Corners, Japanese stab binding, 16” x 10, letterpress text on pillowcases, edition of 1.
Navy Corners, Japanese stab binding, 16” x 10, letterpress text on pillowcases, edition of 1.
Secret Garden, pages from an 1911 edition of the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett with characters from the story added in cyanotype, images from the original book and text information on the reverse, 5”x 7”, edition of 2.
Winter Woodswalk, 5 1/2” x 7”, case bound, book cloth cover, letterpress printed title, 30 pages, black and white photographs, short essay, folded map, accordion book insert, digital printing for photos and text, edition of 2.
Winter Woodswalk, 5 1/2” x 7”, case bound, book cloth cover, letterpress printed title, 30 pages, black and white photographs, short essay, folded map, accordion book insert, digital printing for photos and text, edition of 2.