Judy Onofrio
Judy Onofrio is an artist who's creativity and inspiration are fueled by her passion for collecting objects and material that serve as an inventory for her art making. For as many years as she has spent establishing her career as a committed artist, she has been amassing objects of popular culture and decorative and organic materials ranging from beads and gem stones to rocks and bones. In this most recent series to be exhibited she has focused on a single female figure in each of the pieces. Several are reclining on cushy bed-like objects surrounded by delectable fruits, ripe for the picking. There is a sense of self portraiture and a reference to better living through the consumption of nature's treasures. Once again her imagination and flair for surprise resonate to full volume in these magical works of art.
Judy Onofrio has shown her work in numerous museums across the country, including solo exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Laumeier Sculpture Park and Museum, St. Louis, MO; and earlier this year at the Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI. This fall she will be a featured artist at SOFA (Sculpture Object and Functional Art) in Chicago. She has received a number of prestigious grants and awards including two lifetime achievement awards, one from the McKnight Foundation and the other from the Minnesota Craft Council. Her work has been collected extensively throughout the world including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Arabia Museum, Helsinki, Finland; and the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts in Canada.
