Judy Spark

Researcher profile content

Researcher profile

Judy Spark is an artist and writer. She is a lecturer on the BA (Hons) Fine Art course at Moray.

Qualifications

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), 2010; MA Value and Environment (Environmental Philosophy), University of Lancaster, 2006 (AHRC Funding Award); BA Hons Fine Art (Sculpture) Glasgow School of Art, 1993.

Judy is a member of the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE).

Teaching experience

2006 - 2016: Gray’s School of Art, RGU – P/T Lecturer on the BA Contemporary Art Practice (CAP) and Masters in Contextualised Practice courses; 1997 - 2006: Cardonald College – P/T Lecturer in CAD and Presentation Drawing; 1998 – 2002: Gray’s School of Art, RGU – Ad Hoc Lecturer in Sculpture.

Judy has presented work and undertaken residencies across the UK (CCA Glasgow; Pier Arts Centre, Orkney; Fruitmarket Edinburgh; Glasgow and St Andrews Botanic Gardens; Cupar Visual Arts Projects; North Light Arts Dunbar; Glasgow International; EcoArtScotLand; Radiophrenia and internationally in New Zealand, Swedish Lapland, Canada and Iceland). 

She has published peer reviewed written work internationally, most recently in Phaenex the journal of the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture EPTC (2013) and Environmental Philosophy the journal of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy (2017).

Specialty

Practice:  Sculpture; drawing; sound and the written word.

Research Interests: Nature and environment; Eco-phenomenology; contemplative practice; technology; acoustic ecology; drawing.

Judy has particular interests in working with arts and environmental organisations at a local level (in the UK and beyond) to develop new audiences through dialogue and the situation of work beyond the gallery.

Research

Judy’s research is concerned with the ways that humans relate to the world and with the different sorts of value that can be ascribed to places and things. She has a particular interest in the perceived distance between human, technologically oriented things and practices and the things and environments that are seen as part of the ‘natural’ world.

The research is grounded within lived experience of engagement with the world and through varied accounts of that engagement. The visual component of Judy’s work exists as a processing of her personal direct experience which the written work then seeks to interrogate more deeply and in a structured way that allows that experience to be opened out to, and comparisons to be made with, the subjective experience of others. The practice of drawing and its potential in the recording and exploration of experience has become a significant part of the enquiry.

Originally from Glasgow, Judy now lives on the Isle of Skye, where she where she has developed a number of contemplative drawing workshops. The workshops are experiential in nature and aim to shift the focus of drawing activity from technique and end product to the experience of drawing itself and the import of this sensitivity to environment. This work has have been supported and promoted by the Woodland Trust Scotland; Viewfield Garden Collective, Portree and Highlife Adult Education. Judy’s research and practice is informed by her involvement with the practical maintenance, conservation and development of woodlands in Uig (Woodland Trust Scotland) and at Armadale Castle Estate on Skye with her husband who is a professional gardener.

Contact

Julia's Drawing

Prunus 1 & 2

Sound-form

  • Julia's Drawing, graphite on paper (1200 x 700mm) 2015.
  • Studies for Prunus avium (In Praise of Shadows), graphite and acrylic on board (1520 x 900mm) 2017.
  • The Sound of Form and Colour + extract from text: bookwork for a sound piece broadcast via Radiophrenia/CCA, 2016.