Judy Nelson-Moore

My sculptural work emerges from an intuitive process of play—testing shapes, surfaces, and materials until a quiet tension begins to speak. I am drawn to mixed media because it allows opposites to coexist: hard and fragile, scarred and tender, dense and airy. Through these juxtapositions, meaning is not imposed but revealed. Clay often forms the body of the work—bearing marks of pressure, fire, and time—while fiber, paper, or other found elements suggest interior states: breath, memory, vulnerability, or resilience. These inner forms may be partially concealed or delicately exposed, inviting viewers to look beyond surface impressions and consider what is held within. Process is central to my practice. I work without fixed outcomes, allowing material responses and chance interventions—firing, tearing, binding, weathering—to guide the final form. This openness mirrors the human experience: shaped by forces both visible and unseen, accumulating history while remaining in flux. Ultimately, my sculptures are meditations on being—on aging, endurance, and the quiet strength found in permeability rather than perfection. They ask what it means to remain open in a world that often values hardness, and how beauty can arise through wear, repair, and care.

Born in Denver, Colorado, graduated from Colorado State University, Judy Nelson-Moore spent 46 years in business before embarking on a new chapter in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1992. Her career was rooted in computer software consulting, specializing in HR and payroll systems, later expanding into website development for artists. For many years, she balanced the worlds of technology and creativity. After retiring from the business world in 2003, she fully dedicated herself to her lifelong passion: clay sculpture. Nelson-Moore’s life purpose is to celebrate creativity, to nurture it in herself, and to encourage it in others. She devotes her time to her own artistic practice and to fostering creativity in those around her, remaining actively involved in the New Mexico art community through volunteer work with organizations such as the New Mexico State Committee and New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists. She regularly teaches workshops in paper clay, saggar firing, and surfacing techniques at venues across the country, including Ghost Ranch and in Santa Fe. Her work is available through her website and directly from her studio.

3-D, Assemblage, Ceramics, Collage/Mixed Media, Fiber Arts, Sculpture