WELCOME
David, Judy, & Thistle (image by Buddy Rosenberg)
‘Now What?’
You may be here because you have heard of the annual Judy Wapp Art Fellowship Award and you want to apply, or to nominate an artist. In that case, you can get the information you need at THE AWARD.
Or you may be here because you want to buy a framed original piece of JUDY’S ART (or a very affordable laser print of a piece), which is good because proceeds from art sales are what fund this Award.
Or you might be curious about “Who was Judy Wapp and how did she get that way?” and this is a place to find out a few versions of her story, on ABOUT JUDY.
THE AWARD
The JUDY WAPP ART FELLOWSHIP AWARD is an annual arts award given to a self-identified artist to aid in said artist’s pursuing a specific project or change in direction of their art. The Fellowship recipients include, but are not limited to, young art students, as artists of all ages can benefit from financial assistance. Recipients must live within the boundaries of the Regional District of Central Kootenay, BC, where Judy lived for more than 50 years.
The Fellowship was established in 2024 by Judy Wapp and her family. It was inspired by a formative experience Judy had as a young artist. While in her 20s attending the Art Students League of New York, she received a MacDowell Fellowship Award. She used the Fellowship to travel to and live in France and the artists’ colony that existed at the time in Ibiza, Spain, spending a year painting. We, her family, feel that handing on some version of that experience to other artists will be a fitting memorial to her artistic life.
$2,000 will be awarded on April 20th (Judy’s Birthday), annually, until the funds are exhausted. Each year one applicant will be selected by a small group of trustees (family members and a couple of other volunteers – no one will be paid for this work). A dedicated email account has been set up to handle inquiries, applications, and nominations. Artists can make an application on their own behalf or be nominated by someone else. Deadline for applications is March 1st. Applications received after that day will be deferred to the following year. Unsuccessful applicants are encouraged to try again next year. For more details about how to apply for the Award, see GUIDELINES.
The Award is funded by, and totally dependent on, sales of Judy’s artwork, both framed originals and a few signed prints. A limited number of very affordable laser prints of some pieces are also available. See JUDY’S ART.
‘American Gladiator’
‘Commercial Travelers’
‘Planetary Dysfunction’
GUIDELINES
The Judy Wapp Art Fellowship is an annual $2,000 West Kootenay arts award given to a self-identified artist to aid in pursuing a specific project, which could involve a change in artistic direction.
1) Applicants must live within the boundaries of the Regional District of Central Kootenay.
2) The application package shall consist of:
- a) an introduction to the artist (bio) and a description of the artist’s art practice (2 pages maximum);
- b) a description of how the Fellowship money would be used (2 pages maximum);
- c) two letters of reference from peers who know the artist’s work.
3) Artists can apply for the Fellowship themselves, or may be nominated by someone else. A nomination must be accompanied by the same application package as when an artist applies directly.
4) Deadline for applications/nominations is March 1. All applications received after March 1 will be held for consideration the following year. Announcement of the successful applicant will be on April 20.
5) Practitioners of any art form are eligible to apply.
6) Especially welcome are applications from artists experimenting, and/or transitioning to a medium or a form new to them.
7) Travel costs are ineligible.
8) Application packages should be sent by email, or by Canada Post, to the address below.
Please email questions concerning eligibility or other Fellowship-related matters.
The successful applicant will be chosen by Wapp family members and other volunteers.
CONTACT
For award applications, nominations, or enquiries, or to purchase the artwork of Judy Wapp, please contact us by email or post.
WAPP AWARD
BOX 186
NEW DENVER BC V0G 1S0
image by Sally Lamare
ABOUT JUDY
“I use images from the mass media to give a second look at what surrounds us every day”
Barbara & Judy, 1942
Judy, c. 1945
Judy in respite care, by Josh Wapp
Judith (Judy) Wapp was a friendly, artistic, lover of words who was often flamboyant and outspoken, always unusual, and occasionally very stubborn. She appreciated any opportunity to laugh and had a great sense of the absurd.
Judy attended the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota, where she graduated with a BFA and then attended the Art Students League of New York where she was awarded a McDowell Fellowship for work and travel. Judy emigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1968, then moved to the West Kootenay region of BC in 1971, and moved to New Denver in 2010.
As well as her work as an artist: painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, collage, photo montage, and writing, Judy had paid work as: an assembly line worker, a postal worker, leather worker, ESL teacher, tree planter, chambermaid, waitperson, education program coordinator, library clerk, librarian, and bread deliverer. She also had unpaid work as: a mother, a gardener, a cook, and for about 19 years she was a co-host of Straight No Chaser, a two-hour jazz show on Kootenay Coop Radio.
Judy’s artwork has been presented internationally in various galleries, venues, print publications, digital spaces, and on CD covers, but her last art project was one shared with friends: sticker-adorned postcards bearing the fruit of a daily haiku composition practice. In Spring 2024 Nelson Museum, Archives and Gallery honoured her with a retrospective exhibit spanning her life’s work.
Judy loved the food, humour, and Yiddish language of the Minneapolis Jewish culture in which she was born and raised, but she was not religious. She was heartbroken by the news of war crimes in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Judy had a wonderfully rich singing voice and accompanied herself on guitar. She also loved watching movies and reading. These were among many pleasures and capabilities taken from her by memory loss due to progressive dementia, but until very near the end of her life she continued to enjoy singing, crossword puzzles, Scrabble, and piping in with a clever pun.
Judy joined the ancestors in September of 2024 at 85 years of age.
Judy, Toronto, 1969
“Fox's u-bet” band publicity photo, New York NY, 1967
(Judy & Bessie Wapp LR, photo by Stan Moskowitz LL)
Straight No Chaser live from Knox Hall,
New Denver BC, 2008 (image by Sally Lamare)
2009 Artist-In-Residence, Oxygen Art Centre, Nelson BC
2009 Artist-In-Residence, Oxygen Art Centre, Nelson BC
Lucy, Judy, & David, live radio broadcast from the Apple Tree Café, New Denver, BC
(image by Sally Lamare)
Laundromat in Silverton, BC
Alley wall in New Denver, BC
Judy's gardening skills, New Denver, BC
Judy doing research
The Artist Judy Wapp
REFRESH to restart this slide show.
“I always felt that art belongs in public spaces, like laundromats, cafés, and alley walls, where people, like me, can pause and look at it as they go about their daily lives.”
‘Origin of Species’
NEWS & MEDIA
SPRING 2024
JUDY WAPP: VISUALCHEMY
by Bessie Wapp
ARTiculate, Spring/Summer 2024
“Ever heard of a Rorschach test? That psychological tool that has you look at an inkblot and say what you see in it? My mom's collages are a bit like that. They’re not as abstract as a Rorschach, but they're often quite surreal and everyone sees something different. …”
MARCH 2024
Judy Wapp Retrospective: VISUALCHEMY
Nelson Museum Archives and Gallery
March 22 to June 22, 2024
NMAG Curatorial Essay by Arin Fay
THANKS
Thank you to Margaret Tessman for permission to link to Articulate Magazine, a publication of the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council.
Thank you to Arin Fay, Stephanie Delnea, Lucy Carver-Brennan, and Nelson Museum Archives & Gallery (NMAG) for a stellar job of hosting Judy’s 2024 Exhibition, and for sharing images and promoting this website.
and Thank YOU for supporting the Judy Wapp Art Fellowship Award!
