Judy Belasco paints subtle, yet majestic coastal scenes. She spends her summers exploring the coast of Maine in search of these special places. With camera and sketchbook in hand, she captures the moment, and then recreates the experience on canvas back in her studio.
Belasco is drawn to places where the interplay of water, sky, and light are shaped by atmospheric weather. She uses fog or mist to separate foreground from the background, reality from spirituality. Her goal is to create a place where these two realms coexist. Belasco achieves this harmony by using a sophisticated color palette that subtlety binds them together.
Belasco grew up surrounded by art and knew at an early age that she wanted to be an artist. Her family lived in artist’s colonies in Germantown, Pennsylvania, during the winter, and Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Maine during the summer. Belasco’s father, Oliver Nuse, and her grandfather, Roy Nuse, were both fine artists. Roy was a Pennsylvania Impressionist of the New Hope School and taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. As a child, Belasco remembers being in awe of his paintings.
Belasco won a painting scolarship to the Philadelphia College of Art. She eventually switched to photography. Ray Metzger and Martus Granirer were notable teachers. In 1972, a photograph by Belasco was included in a pretigious exhibit at MOMA of noted photographers titled “About Women.” Belasco also studied with five teachers at the Maine Photographic Workshop, most notably John Paul Caponigro.
Belasco returned to painting in the 1980’s. She honed her color theory and painting technique by studying with noted Maine artist Linden Frederick for several years.
Belasco was the art teacher at the Germantown Friends School, a Quaker preparatory school, a position she held for 32 years. In 2008, she retired to focus fulltime on her painting.
Belasco divides her time between Philadelphia and Maine, where she loves to explore the woods and coastline. Belasco credits her family’s artistic legacy for shaping her love of nature and the arts. Belasco feels spiritually connected to nature through her painitng and hopes to share that expereince with others.
[read more]
EDUCATION
Maine Photographic Workshop: Fine Digital Print with John Paul Caponigro, 2005
Private Study: Maine Landscape Painting with Linden Frederick, 1996-2004
Maine Photographic Workshop: Fine Digital Print, 2004
Barnstone Studios: Classical Drawing and Dynamic Symmetry, 1993-1994
BFA Philadelphia College of Art: Photography Major, 1969-1972
Philadelphia College of Art: Painting Major, 1960-1963
WORK EXPERIENCE
Art teacher: Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia, PA, 1976-2008
ONE PERSON EXHIBITS
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME, 2009
F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2003
F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2000
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME, 2007, ’08
Mulford Gallery, Rockland, ME, 2007, ’08
F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 1999, 2000, ’02, ’08
McGrath Dunham Gallery, Castine, ME, 1998, 2000, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06
Maine Art Gallery, Kennenbunkport, ME, 2004
SYDA Foundation (Invitational), S. Fallsburg, NY, 2003
5th Annual International Fine Arts Show, Boston, MA, 2001
4th Annual International Fine Art Show, Boston, MA, 2000
3rd Annual International Fine Art Show, Boston, MA, 1999
Museum of Modern Art, (Photography Exhibit, group show) New York, NY, 1971
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Germantown Friends School
MBNA
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Belasco paintings are represented in numerous private collections
Seal Inlet, 2009, oil on panel, 11.5 x 27
