Judy Darragh
{{Short description|New Zealand artist (born 1957)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
File:Judy Darragh ONZM (cropped).jpg
Judith Ann Darragh {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=85%}} (born 1957) is a New Zealand artist who uses found objects to create sculptural assemblages. She has also worked in paint{{Cite web|url=http://www.blueoyster.org.nz/exhibitions/judy-darragh/|title=Judy Darragh|website=Blue Oyster art project space|access-date=14 March 2016|archive-date=9 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209114807/http://blueoyster.org.nz/exhibitions/judy-darragh/|url-status=dead}} and film.{{Cite web|url=http://www.circuit.org.nz/artist/judy-darragh|title=Circuit: Judy Darragh|website=Circuit.co.nz}} Darragh is represented in a number of public collections in New Zealand. In 2004, The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa held a major retrospective of her work titled Judy Darragh: So... You Made It? {{Cite web|url=https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/whats-on/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/2004-past-exhibitions#So|title=Te Papa 2004 past exhibitions|website=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|access-date=14 March 2016|archive-date=25 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125200649/https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/whats-on/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/2004-past-exhibitions#So|url-status=dead}}
Early life and education
Darragh was born and raised in Christchurch. Her mother worked in a clothing factory and her father was a freezing worker. Darragh described being surrounded by "the joy of making" in her home environment, and from an early age she enjoyed drawing and making things from craft materials such as Fimo and pipe cleaners.
Darragh studied graphic design, graduating from Wellington Polytechnic with a Diploma in Visual Communication and Design in 1978. Deciding that she was not "cut out for the (graphic design) industry,"{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zM5Yc8pAFs|title=Judy Darragh artist interview|website=YouTube}} Darragh moved to Auckland where she gained a Diploma in Teaching from Auckland Secondary School Teachers College in 1980.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pageblackiegallery.co.nz/artists/judy-darragh/|title=Judy Darragh|website=Page Blackie Gallery}} She has described how her teaching career has supported her art-making and provided her with a sense of freedom in her practice.
Artist-run initiatives
In 1992, Darragh was one of eight artists who founded the artist-run space Teststrip in Auckland and this would run until 1997 wherein the space was closed.{{Cite web|url=http://www.physicsroom.org.nz/archive/log/archive/4/testrip/|title=TestRIP|last=Butt|first=Danny|website=The Physics Room}} Darragh then went on to start Cuckoo, an artist-run project based in Auckland that was described as 'the artist-run space without a space' {{Cite web|url=http://www.physicsroom.org.nz/archive/cuckoo/|title=Archive: Cuckoo|website=The Physics Room}} with four other artists in 2000.
Pornographic imagery
In 2013, Darragh exhibited 'Doctor, 2013' at Gus Fisher Gallery in the show 'A Different view: artists address pornography.'
Comic strips
In the 1980s, under the alias Blossom, Darragh's comic strips were published in the New Zealand underground comic book series Strips.{{Cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/comics-and-graphic-novels/print|title=Comics and graphic novels|last=Bollinger|first=Tim|date=22 October 2014|website=Te Ara}} Her comic strips have also been published in Three Words: An anthology of Aotearoa/NZ women's comics.{{Cite book|title=Three Words: An Anthology of Aotearoa/NZ Women's Comics|publisher=Beatnik|year=2016|isbn=978-0-9941205-0-2|location=Auckland|pages=92–95}}
Shrine series
Darragh developed her signature kitsch aesthetic while living in Auckland in the 1980s, where she was working as secondary school teacher. She began making and selling domestic objects such as lamps and mirrors made from plastic plates at Cook Street Market{{Cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/7424866/Steeling-the-show|title=Steeling the show|last=MacDonald|first=Nikki|work=The Dominion Post|via=www.stuff.co.nz}} and collecting bric-a-brac from markets, second hand shops and op shops.{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnews.co.nz/autumn-2009-profile/|title=The pleasure of making|last=Gardiner|first=Sue|website=Art News NZ}} Her first assemblage works brought together these made and found objects into what she has described as "shrines". She was interested in exploring the distinctions between high and low culture and art and craft (particularly crafts that have been historically undertaken by women) and was influenced by Marcel Duchamp and his use of the readymade.{{Cite news|url=http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/arts/how-to-turn-te-papa-into-an-op-shop/|title=How to turn Te Papa into an op shop|last=McAloon|first=William|work=NZ Listener}} Darragh first exhibited her art at Artspace, in Auckland's George Fraser Gallery.
Honours and awards
In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, Darragh was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts.{{cite web |url= https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2020 |title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2020 |date=1 June 2020 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=1 June 2020}}
Collections
- Auckland Art Gallery{{Cite web|url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/2664/judy-darragh|title=Auckland City Art Gallery artist page for Judy Darragh|website=Auckland City Art Gallery}}
- Govett-Brewster Art Gallery{{Cite web|url=http://govettbrewster.com/collection/99-3|title=Govett-Brewster Art Gallery collection record|website=Govett-Brewster Art Gallery}}
- Christchurch Art Gallery{{Cite web|url=http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/collection/89-138|title=Christchurch Art Gallery collection record|website=Christchurch Art Gallery}}
- Dunedin Public Art Gallery{{Cite web|url=http://collection.dunedin.art.museum/search.do?view=detail&page=1&id=29652&db=object|title=Judy Darragh: Birth of Barbie|website=Dunedin Public Art Gallery}}
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa{{Cite web|url=http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Person/6319|title=Person: Darragh, Judy|website=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa}}
- Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato{{Cite web|url=http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/account/3116/object/30278/Pacific_Madonna|title=Pacific Madonna|website=NZMuseums}}
- Lincoln University Collection, Christchurch{{Cite web|url=https://library2.lincoln.ac.nz/documents/ArtworksBookletWEB.pdf|title=Visitor's Guide to Artwork, Building and Trees on the Lincoln University Campus|website=Lincoln University}}
- Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua, Whanganui{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- [https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/about/te-papa-press/art-titles/judy-darragh-soyou-made-it Conland, Natasha. Judy Darragh: So...You Made It?] Exhibition Catalogue. Wellington: Te Papa Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-909010-98-0}}
External links
- [https://www.judydarragh.co.nz Judy Darragh's Website]
- [https://vimeo.com/72112930 Judy Darragh, Artist: Studio Channel Art Fair]
- [https://vimeo.com/48846789 Judy Darragh talk] at the SPARK International Festival of Media, Arts & Design at Waikato Institute of Technology, August 2012
- [http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/artsonsunday/audio/2546000/judy-darragh Judy Darragh on Radio New Zealand Arts on Sunday]
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Category:Artists from Christchurch
Category:New Zealand installation artists
Category:20th-century New Zealand sculptors
Category:21st-century New Zealand sculptors
Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Category:20th-century New Zealand women photographers
Category:21st-century women photographers