The paintings of Judy Ueda radiate a sense of stillness and peace while signaling dynamic movement and change. Born in Calgary, Ueda’s work is a response to being at home in the vast solitude of the Alberta prairie. Ueda is drawn to the minimalist contemporary style; her influences include Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler, but also the Romanticist landscape painter, William Turner. Working along the edge of reality and abstraction, Ueda captures the fundamental essence of the prairie landscape simplified into its basic elements. Her ongoing series Heaven and Earth explores the idea of limitless space emanating calmness and a feeling of familiarity, like a favourite place from childhood.
Ueda has studied at both ACAD and the University of Calgary from 2001. Her work has been exhibited in and around Calgary and Vancouver. Selected exhibitions include: Annual Juried Members Show, Leighton Centre Gallery (2006-2011); Painting on
the Edge, Canadian Federation of Artists, Vancouver (2011); A Different Perspective, Arts on Atlantic, Calgary (2011); Open Spaces, City of Calgary, McLennan Ross LLP (2010); Shades of Summer, Leighton Centre Gallery (2010); Abstract Painters Exhibition, ACAD (2009); 4th Annual Calgary Timeraiser Juried Show (2009).