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)

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
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