Judith SCHUPPIEN
BIO
I grew up in Milbridge, Maine, way Downeast, and graduated from the local three-room high school as valedictorian – of a class of 17. Somehow, I ended up at The University of Chicago, and graduated four years later (not exactly at the head of the class) with a BFA. Since entry-level Fine Arts jobs, if you can even find one, don’t pay well, I soon switched to IT and worked as a computer programmer and systems analyst at several large companies in Chicago. I studied at night for an MBA and made very little art.
Eighteen years after I left Maine, my Chicago husband and I moved back, this time to the Augusta area, where we both continued with IT work. But something about coming back to Maine moved art to the foreground again. I met other artists at the Harlow Gallery in Hallowell and at other artists’ organizations. In summer, I paint outdoors with a Damariscotta-based plein air group. My favorite medium is oil, though I enjoyed pastels for several years and still love to make ink drawings. Favorite painting destinations include Stonington and South Bristol and Harpswell, and the old towns along Maine’s big rivers. Most of my art is about loving a place.
In September of 2020, I moved to Brunswick where I live with my husband of 40 years (that same Chicago husband) and our two enormous cats.