Background

Shirley J. Judy is a clay artist who has done pottery and clay sculpture for over 25 years. She received her Master's in Fine Arts in 1985 from North Texas State University. Until just recently, Shirley taught at Ventura Community College in the Ceramics department. Last year she quit teaching in order to have more time in her own studios, and to be able to travel on a more flexible schedule.

Always interested in new techniques, she has done many different types of kiln firings over the years. Most of her functional work is high fired, with cone 10 reduction glazes. A long time love of salt glazing inspired her to build a large salt kiln. Salt is introduced into the hot kiln where it combines chemically with the clay to produce beautiful textured glazes. Another favorite way of firing is to do primitive firings with seaweed and driftwood from the Ventura Coastline. These porcelain pieces are wrapped in the materials found at the beach and fired using driftwood as fuel. The colors that are seen on the pots are due to the burning materials, which make permanent flashes of orange, red, and black against the pottery surfaces. 

Shirley works in her clay studio, which is located in Camarillo, California. Her work has been shown in numerous shows and galleries including “Gallery 9” in Thousand Oaks, “Reflections of…..”In Idyllwild, “Serendipity” in San Francisco, “BuenaVentura Art Gallery” & "Harbor Village Gallery" in Ventura, and “Ojai art center” in Ojai.

If you would like to see current work that is for sale, please visit my Gallery pages.  I would like to hear about your work and see your web site as well, please visit my Guest book page.