Sculpture, Paintings and Drawings by Carolyn Judson

The work I do in whatever medium has become, over time, less a response to the environment and more a defining of my priorities. Occasionally I am influenced by other people's ideas or other artists' work. I am particularly interested in the writings of Buckminster Fuller, impressed with his global philosophy and how he bases his thought in geometry. Exploring further, I have discovered the beauties and mysteries of math and physics. Symmetries from ancient times to modern theories seem to translate readily for me into sculptural forms.

Since we can now look into space to the distance of 40 million light years, the idea of endlessness overwhelms me. My solution to portraying this concept is in the torus form. It is similar to the eternal twisting edge of a Mobius strip forever turning back on itself.

This shape, the torus, has a most satisfying perfection of form. One visually travels in, out and around it in a spiral movement which is more tantalizing than traveling over a sphere or plane which are more common relational shapes.

The torus crops up in math and molecular biology. In our everyday world it's the wheel, the doughnut, the rainbow's arc. But to me this common form implies the ineffable, the fleeting consciousness of mysterious uncharted realms.

Recently I have sculpted elephants of Africa. They are still being depleted for their tusks and the situation is worse than ever. They are now an endangered species. Buying ivory is now illegal in this country but a big business in China and other asian countries.