Judging by her resume, Judi Tavill was destined to become an artist. Born in 1968 in Baltimore, MD, she received her BFA in Fashion Design from the Washington University in Saint Louis in 1990 and achieved success as a fashion and textile print designer. But a need for a more artistic – less commercial – course of action led her to switch gears, and after delving into various mediums, she finally landed on clay in 2003.
“Using a personal visual vocabulary, I explore life’s richness and fragility,” she explains on her website, “focusing on the interplay between deeply carved lines of undulating curves and rich hand texturing that pierces and prods through the clay’s surface.” Her artistic process relies on preparation and planning as well as improvisation.
Years of experimenting with clay resulted in a unique creative language, one she has become recognized for around the world. When looked at from afar, her ceramic vessels remind of corals in terms of shape and texture. According to Tavill, their distinct texture was first inspired by other forms in nature (that don’t include corals). “I absolutely am inspired by nature as well as architecture, design, and culture,” she told Monmouth Arts. “I work to abstract what I am inspired by and incorporate form or color or construction in my work without necessarily creating a direct reference.”
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