• Graduate Program in Visual Arts, Department of Visual Art & Art History

  • Judith Schwarz

  • Associate Professor

  • Associate Dean, Academic, On Sabbatical (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021)

Judith Schwarz profile image

E jschwarz@yorku.ca

EDUCATION

BA (UBC), MFA (York)

BIOGRAPHY

Professor Schwarz is a nationally-recognized artist whose work is found in public and private collections across Canada. She teaches sculpture and drawing at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and has also developed and taught courses in feminist studio.

Judith Schwarz has created several large-scale public commissions in Toronto and Vancouver that stress integration between art and the environment. She has exhibited her work widely across Canada. Her solo shows include the Embassy Gallery in Tokyo and the Freedman Gallery in Reading, Pennsylvania. As a visiting artist, she has held residencies with Toronto’s Open Studio, the McIntyre Ranch in Southern Alberta, ArtSpace in Sydney, Australia, and the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design in Vancouver. She has also served as president of C Magazine and the artist-run Mercer Union, Toronto; as a member of the board of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Sculpture Garden and the Koffler Centre for the Arts in Toronto; and as Vice-Chair of the board of Toronto’s Open Studio. I recognition of her outstanding creative work, she was awarded the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award in Visual Arts by the Canada Council.

A seasoned academic administrator,  Professor Schwarz has served as Chair of York University’s Department of Visual Art & Art History and as Graduate Program Director of the MFA Program in Visual Arts.  For the past five years she has been a co-leader for the AIF eLearning initiative “Looking to the Future: Building State-of-the-Art eLearning” in York’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design.

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions
2002 Geocentric, Canadian Embassy Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Judith Schwarz, Sable Castelli Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2000 Transcriptions, Freedman Gallery, Albright College Centre for the Arts, Reading, PA
1998 Dissembling Structures/Structures dissimulees – A Survey of Judith Schwarz Sculpture 1989-1998,
University of Waterloo Art Gallery; Helen & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal;
Charles S. Scott Art Gallery, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, British Columbia
1996 SCULPTURE/sculpture, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Emma Lake Works on Paper, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1994 Equation, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Transparent Sculpture, S.L. Simpson, Toronto, Ontario
Fictive Space Collaborative Exhibition with Arlene Stamp, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
Sculpture, S. L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1991 Sculpture S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Judith Schwarz, Centennial Gallery, Oakville, Ontario
1990 Judith Schwarz, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Ontario
1989 Judith Schwarz, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor Ontario
Reciprocation, The Gallery/Stratford, Stratford, Ontario
1988 Recent Sculpture, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Recent Sculpture, Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, Ontario
1986 Sculpture, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
Shadow of the Palace, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1985 Recent Sculpture, Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario
1984 How Water Evaporates, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1983 Ideas for Outdoors, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, N.S.
1982 Cella: An Installation, P.S.1, Long Island City, New York

Selected Group Exhibitions

2003 – Catherine Heard / Judith Schwarz, Open Studio Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

2001 – Revolve: Catherine Burgess, Judith Schwarz and Martha Townsend, Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta

2001 – Alignments, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario

1999 – My Place or Yours, Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Redefining the Still Life: Selections From the Permanent Collection, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal, Quebec
Portal, Koffler Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1998 – Threshold, Power Plant Gallery for Contemporary Art, Toronto Ontario (catalogue)
Wood: An Aesthetic & Social Ecology, Tom Thompson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound
The Texture of a Collection, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario

1997 – Rococo Tattoo, Power Plant Gallery for Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario (catalogue)
Site / Work: Toronto Sculpture Garden, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario (catalogue)
The View From Here, Gairloch Gallery, Oakville, Ontario

1996 – Review II, Mercer Union Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
You/Here, artist project for The Body Missing Web site by Vera Frenkel
The Monumental New City: Art and Community, Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario

1995 – Looking Back III: 1986-1990, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta

1994 – 64-94′ Contemporary Decades, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.

1992 – Legal Perspective, McMichael Canadian Art, Kleinburg, Ontario
Judith Schwarz/Carol Wainio, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1991 – Old Man River Exhibition, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
9 From Toronto, Art Gallery of York University; Glendon Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1990
9 From Toronto, Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England;
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
Alexander, Schwarz, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
S.L. Simpson Gallery, 1980-1990, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1989
The Art at Skydome, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
A Meeting: An Exhibition by Canadian and Dutch Artists, Stichting Artichoc (Foundation Artichoc), Oss, The Netherlands

1988
The Perfect Fit, Creating Art for Specific Sites, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario

1987
Artscape, Burlington Cultural Centre, Burlington, Ontario
Temporal Icons, Contemporary Sculpture, A.R.C./Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario
Waterworks, London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario

1986
York Work: Faculty Exhibition, York University Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
York Faculty Show, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China

1985
Canada Collects, Contemporary Sculpture from the Art Bank, Washington Square Building, Washington, D.C.
Re:Union, Winters Gallery, York University, Toronto, Ontario
Exposicion Canadiense, Instituto de Cultura de Yucatan, Yucatan, Mexico
L’Impulsion, John A. Schweitzer Gallery, Montreal, Quebec

Collections:

Art Gallery of Brant
Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Art Gallery of Windsor
Borden, Ladner and Gervais
Canada Council Art Bank
City of Vancouver
The Edmonton Art Gallery
Fasken Campbell Godfrey
Guaranty Trust Company of Canada
The Glick Organization
Hamilton Art Gallery
Ivest Corporation
London Life Insurance Company
McCarthy Tetrault
National Gallery of Canada
Oakville Galleries
Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt
Petro Canada
Prudential Life Insurance Company of America
The Royal Bank
Toronto, Dominion Bank
Tory, Tory, DesLauriers and Binnington
University of Lethbridge, Alberta
University of Oregon
University of St. Michael’s College
York University, Toronto

Projects:
2003 Artist in Residence, Open Studio, Toronto
2001 Ruminations from the Sidelines, article, Black Flash, Vol. 19.2 / 2001
2000 Blink, 3 page Artist Project, C Magazine, Fall/Winter Issue #67/68
1999 Artist in Residence, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC
1998 Studio Residency, Artspace, Sidney Australia
1996 You/Here, artist’s website for “The Body Missing” by Vera Frenkel
1990 Catalogue Essay, Remove, M.F.A. Exhibition, York University Graduates, Morrow Gallery, Toronto A Dialogue With Vision: The Art of Spring Hurlbut and Judith Schwarz: 16 mm. documentary film, b/w & colour, by Annette Mangaard, 1990
 1986  I am an artist. My name is…, 220 min. video tape, initiated and directed in collaboration with
Elizabeth Mackenzie, Knossos, Artist Project, “Impulse” magazine
 1981  Artist Project (photographic artwork), “Impressions” magazine

Commissions:
2001/03 – Pacific Spiral , sculptural water feature, Concord Pacific, Vancouver, British Columbia

2000/02 – Functional Sculpture Canopy and Fence, Options for Homes, Gooderham & Worts Development, Toronto, Ontario

1992 – Nautilus Gateway, stainless steel and bronze sculpture, Waterpark Place, Bay Street and Queen’s Quay, Toronto, Ontario

1990 – Spiral Fountain, bronze fountain for Hotel Deck, Skydome, Toronto, Ontario

Graduate Program in Visual Arts, Visual Art & Art History

People of AMPD

Assistant Professor

Natasha Bissonauth

Assistant Professor

Archer Pechawis

Assistant Professor

Marissa Largo

Administrative Staff

Dawn Burns

Professor Emerita

Shelley Hornstein

Technical Staff

Joel Wengle

Administrative Staff

Joy Raymond

Administrative Staff

Rose Le Coche

Assistant Professor

Robyn Cumming

Administrative Staff

Patrick Legris

Technical Staff

P. Roch Smith

Technical Staff

Lindsay Page

Technical Staff

Kotama Bouabane

Associate Professor

Tammer El-Sheikh

Assistant Professor

Holly Ward

Professor

Jennifer Fisher

Professor

Michel Daigneault

Associate Professor

Marc Couroux

Professor Emeritus

Jon Baturin

Professor

Barbara Balfour

Associate Professor

David Scott Armstrong

Associate Professor

Dan Adler

Professor Emeritus

Nell Tenhaaf

Contract Faculty

Chris Ironside

Professor Emeritus

Michael Davey

Professor Emeritus

Joyce Zemans

Professor Emeritus

Tim Whiten

Professor Emeritus

Bruce Parsons

Professor Emeritus

Guy P.R. Métraux

Professor Emeritus

Hugh LeRoy

Professor Emeritus

Barbara Dodge

Professor Emeritus

Shirley Ann Brown

Professor Emeritus

Ted Bieler

Professor Emeritus

Carol Zemel

Associate Professor

Kevin Yates

Professor

Brandon Vickerd

Professor

Malcolm Thurlby

Professor Emeritus

Karen Stanworth

Professor

Yvonne Singer

Associate Professor

Judith Schwarz

Associate Professor

Nancy Nicol

Associate Professor

Nina Levitt

Associate Professor

Yam Lau

Associate Professor

Leslie Korrick

Professor

Katherine Knight

Associate Professor

Hong Kal

Professor

Janet Jones

Professor

Anna Hudson

Associate Professor

Brian Grosskurth

Associate Professor

Sarah Parsons