Judith Hoch

A Bird’s Eye View

Judith Hoch has exhibited in many venues in the United States and in New Zealand. Judith lives in New Zealand, but she has worked with an Afro-Cuban shaman in Miami for many years, and is from Miami originally, where her interest in oracles and divination developed. She is an artist who uses archetypes and symbols to reveal their beauty and deep connection to the human soul. Religions–even entire cultures–are variants of archetypal ideas. She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the USA in university and museum galleries and taken part in many local exhibitions in New Zealand in the small arts village where she lives.

Judith has a Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal. For her doctoral research, she lived in Nigeria where she watched and acted with local theater troupes who performed in Yoruba. Although the culture had been violated by the British colonial government, slave trading, and territorial wars, Yoruba language, poetry, philosophy, and art were still strong.

When she accepted a job in Miami, she discovered the Cuban Lucumí (Santeria) religion based on Yoruba spiritual concepts. (Read Eshu Throws a Stone Today and Kills a Bird of Yesterday) Her book The Soothsayer was written after years of divination with ancestral based practices prescribed by obá oríaté Ernesto Pichardo.

It was while employed at universities she discovered misogyny and sexism in her own culture (Read Alma Pater), and these have been important themes in her artwork.
Judith spent four years studying in Miami with master artist Roberto Martinez. Martinez, a genius in many ways, was she says, her first real teacher. He broke down her arrogance and built her confidence again. He showed Hoch how to see and how to draw. Once an artist can do this, many things are possible.

Judith has a Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal. For her doctoral research, she lived in Nigeria where she watched and acted with local theater troupes who performed in Yoruba. Although the culture had been violated by the British colonial government, slave trading, and territorial wars, Yoruba language, poetry, philosophy, and art were still strong. When she accepted a job in Miami, she discovered the Cuban Lucumí (Santeria) religion based on Yoruba spiritual concepts. (Read Eshu Throws a Stone Today and Kills a Bird of Yesterday) Her book The Soothsayer was written after years of divination with ancestral based practices prescribed by obá oríaté Ernesto Pichardo.

It was while employed at universities she discovered misogyny and sexism in her own culture (Read Alma Pater), and these have been important themes in her artwork.
Judith spent four years studying in Miami with master artist Roberto Martinez. Martinez, a genius in many ways, was she says, her first real teacher. He broke down her arrogance and built her confidence again. He showed Hoch how to see and how to draw. Once an artist can do this, many things are possible.