Judith Hert is a painter and writer who moved to Truchas, New Mexico with her husband in the spring of 1999. She wondered aloud when we were talking the other day if any place one moves to ever turns out the way they think it will. It sure didn’t for her. Six weeks after coming to Truchas her husband died, and a year later she was diagnosed with cancer.
Thinking back, she’s not entirely sure why they ended up here. She laughs, saying, “It is about as bizarre a choice as one can make, don’t you agree?” They’d vacationed often in Santa Fe and one day, while driving the High Road, they missed the turn to Taos, which brought them into the village. Driving out toward the mountain with the acequia bubbling alongside the road, Judith was reminded of both Mexico and the Swiss Alps—a strange combination of each.
Later, back home in California, she happened upon an ad in ArtNews for Alvaro Cardona-Hine. She was drawn to the work and was stunned to see he was from Truchas. So on their next trip to New Mexico, they came to Truchas to meet Alvaro and Barbara. She’d brought some of her paintings with her that Barbara and Alvaro liked so well they invited her to come paint with them, which she did. They told her about a house that was on the market in the village.
And there was something about that house… although it needed a ton of work when they first saw it. There was not even a kitchen. But Judith stood in what would become the kitchen, looking out the windows across a sunlit field of golden hay stubble, at a huge flock of tiny little birds that were flying back and forth in formation, and she received something of a message telling her she should live there, in that house. So they bought it.
After her husband died she realized she had come to the end of the life she’d shared with him in Lake Arrowhead, California and she didn’t want to go back without him. Truchas was a new beginning but one she hadn’t intended to do alone. She acknowledges she never would have come by herself but, left here all alone, she chose to stay. All she could think was that since she had made the choice in such an intuitive way, maybe she was supposed to be here.
Since she struggled at memorization and had a hard time focusing, Judith was not a good elementary school student, but she could draw. She always got her strokes from drawing and worked her way through high school doing lots of art. At the time she didn’t see any possibilities in art and didn’t know how to begin. “If someone had told me,” she says, “you have to do thirty drawings of the same thistle and they’re going to get worse before they get better, and that it’s about process… that would have helped.”
By the time she came to Truchas she’d done some realistic watercolors which she found didn’t interest her very much, and was in the midst of an abstract series of works on paper, but she hadn’t really done much painting. She didn’t, yet, take herself seriously as an artist.
When she arrived, determined to explore her art, Bill Franke took her into Hand Artes Gallery here in Truchas and helped her get into a prestigious show in Santa Fe. He encouraged her to paint larger and on canvas. She has spent these last twelve years discovering her process, meeting collectors in her own gallery and selling. She’s now painting a show for a venue in Massachusetts and one in California as well.
About her art she says, “I am tempted to call these works arrangements. They are arrangements of shapes, lines, colors, textures which, if they work, invite attention and investigation and finally emotion. I want the colors to pop and sing. I want structures that have both tension and completeness. These are process paintings. I find my way in, play, create problems, and finally solve or resolve. I say I create a mess and then get out alive.”
In addition to painting, Judith is also writing her memoir. She received her Masters in English and also taught literature and has always been interested in writing. She’s written poems and stories and published an essay, as well as many professional papers, but she was genuinely surprised by how challenging writing this memoir has been. She says, “Both painting and writing can be so fulfilling and nurturing even though they drive you nuts.” She has a New York agent and editor but catches herself thinking sometimes that she’s turning 75 in the fall and she really shouldn’t have to work so hard.
But years ago, when facing a health crisis, she received another message: If you want to get well you have to paint. So she continues, not entirely because she wants to but, like so many of us, because she must.
You can see Judith’s work at judithhert.com.
Love to you all,
Jeane
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Judith,
I love this statement – “If someone had told me,” she says, “you have to do thirty drawings of the same thistle and they’re going to get worse before they get better, and that it’s about process… that would have helped.”
What an amazing gift it is to ME – we can never have too many reminders or gifts:) Thank you both for sharing your thoughts and photos:)
I love your home Judith – the exposed beams are fantastic and very alive….even though we know they are not inert some things just jump and vibrate more than others:)
I will go and look more at your paintings at your website, I love the wonderful colors and the play of space they afford the mind. Awesome.
XOX
Grace
Hi Grace–You’re touching on one of the reasons it’s so rich to live here in one of the art villages. I’m surrounded by other serious, working artists and I benefit from their stories, their processes and, sometimes, their struggles to break through on a challenging piece. We talk about this ALL THE TIME. So you can imagine how fruitful that is.
The exposed beams are called vigas and they are very old. The way the ceilings in these old adobes were constructed was by laying the vigas on the top of the last layer of adobe brick, then putting small branches, called latias, tightly across them running the other way, and then packing mud and straw on top of that. Judith took out the latias and the mud for the open ceiling–and the creation of that cool guest bedroom with the gang plank getting you there. Jeremy Irons has come to the village several times and he told Judith that’s where he wanted to stay!
Judith I know they are all your children, but since they are not mine I must say – at this time – and just among the few I saw on your site – “Red & Green” is my favorite – she just floors me…with all others close beside it. In person I reckon I would be in awe at the colorful display.
Grace
That is one of my favorites too. It hangs in her dining/kitchen area and it does take your breath away. I regret I didn’t get a good photo of that one in place. I almost went back to re-shoot but…
Thank you Jeane for this story for you know how much I love to hear stories of other artists. I am sorry to hear about the sorrows she had to endure when moving and finally settling in Truchas. I am guessing and hoping that she is free and clear of cancer/in remission? On a better note I liked her art, (the eighth picture on this post) found it to be an adventure to look at and reminded me of stained glass pieces. When I went to view her sight I loved the circle and squares painting! Judith keep up the art not entirely because you want to, but because like so many of us, because you must. (Love that quote because it is so true to all of us Artist’s; it’s in our souls, as I put it to my husband).
Hi Cindy–Yes, indeed, Judith is cancer free and has been, now, for many years. Glad you loved hearing her story–they’re all so individual, aren’t they? But then we do have that common thread of being artists–and human beings–but every one of us has a different story–one that can teach and support the other. I love that.
Judith, I loved the opportunity to wander through your home again and see the changes. The wall of books near the fireplace, the guest room at the end of the “walk” are the main additions that I noticed. Your geraniums are happy and healthy and look so nice at the base of the windows. Your home is so livable and cozy. Good memories.
Looking forward to seeing pictures of the studio when it is finished.
I enjoy your paintings that I have in my home. My favorite is the watercolor earthtones which has a concrete copy that was set up as a “fountain” when you had a show in California several years after you moved to Truchas. If you want the concrete fountain copy the next time you come to California, let me know. The small green, blue, yellow is on the wall above my computer and you know where the watercolor of rocks and trees is. Still in same place.
Hugs,
Helen
Hi Helen–This blog is a terribly new format for Judith. I hope she’ll find the way to navigate it and answer your very nice note. Thanks for reading and responding. Jeane