1982-85

Inspired by the 1981 visit of American fibre artist Mary Walker Phillips, Cordeaux started creating knitted abstract panels and hangings in hand-spun natural wool and dyed rug wool yarn. An early piece was accepted for inclusion in the ANZ Bank Art Award for Fabric and Fibre Art exhibition at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, in 1982.

In 1983 Cordeaux held a small exhibition of knitted works in Lyttelton and, encouraged by the positive response, produced a substantial solo show at the Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery, Christchurch, in 1984. This was titled - somewhat controversially - Wrinkled Bellies.

“Wrinkled bellies, the inevitable aftermath of childbirth, have become an art form at the hands of a Lyttelton-based artist, Judith Cordeaux. As a child, she was disturbed by the lines on her mother’s stomach. Later, as a mother herself, she found similar wrinkles on her own belly and, studying them, began to see them as no longer ugly, but symbolic of motherhood."  ‘I began to see beauty in these lines. Just as there is softness in the breast, so too there is softness in the lines of childbirth’.

“These ideas inspired “Wrinkled Bellies”, a series of wall hangings knitted on circular needles. The hangings are done in wool because ‘the fibre reminds me of the softness and elasticity of skin, and because in our country working in wool has been traditionally the work of women, and above all, of mothers.’ ”(The Press, 19 December 1984).

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1984/2007

In 1984, Cordeaux explored the art of book illustration. She wrote:

“I created the illustrations for this book [For Sale, illustrated by Judith Cordeaux, story by Jennifer Quérée. Published 2007 Rainbow Print, Christchurch, ISBN 978-0-473-12087-0] in 1984. They were little art works that I could make in a small space, and in the small amount of free time I had available while raising a young child and helping renovate a very old cottage as our home."

“The story draws on my own experience – a mother and her little girl find a derelict cottage and bring it to life, turning it back into a home, with a vegetable garden, flowers, pet animals, and friends."

“I bought packets of self-adhesive colour paper and with the restricted palette created 18 whole page pictures. I was encouraged by the knowledge that Matisse had made many art works using cut-out paper, but I also remembered one of my primary school teachers decorating the classroom windows with simple pictures - such as “window boxes” of brightly-coloured flowers in pots - from this same type of paper.”

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1985

Cordeaux returned to painting with Children’s Games, 10 large works in acrylic and enamel on hardboard. These were shown at the Dux de Lux, Christchurch Arts Centre, 29 May-25 June 1985.

Cordeaux writes: “My friend, Jennifer Quérée, photographed me working on a painting for this series at the kitchen table in my Lyttelton cottage.”

“Judith’s childlike images and colour embody the fantasies and the sometimes-cruel games of the kindergarten-age group, which are often carried into adulthood. One work [“Two-faced Cat"] was recently selected for the BP Art Award exhibition and is among a group to tour the North Island in the next few months.” (Christchurch Star, 4 June 1985)

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1986

Cordeaux held another solo exhibition at the Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery, Christchurch, in 1986. Daze of Our Lives comprised 12 paintings in gouache and wax-resist on paper. 

Cordeaux wrote:“In between bringing up a young child and running a household, I try to record daily events, both mundane and out-of-the-ordinary. However, life often seems to hurtle past, leaving me reeling in its wake – hence the title of my latest series of works, ‘The Daze of Our Lives’.”

 Pat Unger, reviewing the exhibition for The Press (2 September 1986) commented:

“Judith Cordeaux … paints with a controlled casualness that indicates a continuing maturity of style…"

“Keeping explicit shapes awash with a pleasing vagueness, her two-dimensional designs have a degree of freshness, a subtlety of tone and sensitivity to paint that speak of advancement…"

“This small exhibition allows Cordeaux to record and control visually, the mundane and unusual events in her life. Her personal imagery is of interest and her method of work is modestly innovative and appealing.”

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2010-2012

Cordeaux returned to serious painting and art-making after a break of some 20 years. She joined life-drawing groups with the aim of sharpening her drawing skills, as well as a critique group at CoCA.

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1987-1991

Cordeaux continued painting using gouache and wax-resist on paper. A number of works were accepted for the CSA (Christchurch) and various national art award exhibitions in Wellington and Auckland.

Donna Yuzwalk writing inMoremagazine (March 1988) recorded the response of the purchaser of one of these paintings:

“On weekends Tracey [Dr Tracey Lambert, pathologist] … might dabble in a bit of gouache painting, inspired by the recent acquisition of her first work of art [‘Monica’s Washday’] which takes pride of place over the mantelpiece.”

2010-12

The destructive Canterbury earthquakes forced Cordeaux’s departure from Christchurch in March 2011 after the loss of her house. For the next three years she lived in relative isolation in her small holiday cottage at Okains Bay on Banks Peninsula. The time was put to good use artistically.

Cordeaux continued with life-drawing classes, going to Christchurch once a week. She experimented with left-over oil and acrylic paint rescued from her Christchurch house, as well as new artists’ oils and enamel paint in vibrant colours to create a series of landscapes of Okains Bay. She regards these paintings “as a way to get over the trauma of the quakes … you work hard all your life and then you have to start over again. ”The quiet surroundings of hills, paddocks, the ocean, and birds singing in the garden, were unchanged and an escape from the devastation of beautiful Christchurch.

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2015 -16

Now settled in Timaru, with a studio in the former billiard room of her big old house, Cordeaux embarked on a new series of experimental works. She writes:

Through painting I explore the many challenges women confront and overcome.  A rude comment, suggesting my ‘use by’ date had passed, inspired my current series, “Old Bags”.

Wool packs are large, strong bags for shorn fleeces. At the wool store, they are sliced open so a fleece sample can be pulled out for testing. The gash is then stitched up. When the packs are too worn they are often sold as useful bags for gardeners’ or builders’ rubbish. They seemed ideal canvases for my series of paintings about the amazing resilience of women.

Despite age and all sorts of mutilation, we are still capable of useful contributions to society. And we can express great joy in just being alive. I use a restricted palette of colours, a challenge in itself ­- to make each work individual, just as each woman is an individual with something to offer to the world.

Twenty large-scale works later, Cordeaux completed the series with a collaborative painting. She describes it:

I was inspired by the Indian Holi Festival of Colours to create a final work for my "Old Bag" series of paintings. Holi is a day to forgive, look ahead and celebrate as a community, with colours.

On Valentine's Day 2016, I invited 8 women friends to celebrate their lives by taking part in this art work, "Colour Run".

I supplied the canvas – a used wool pack opened completely flat, exposing all its wrinkles, lumps, holes and stitched-up repairs.

The paint was from the last of the tins I had used in my series of works.

My friends had one hour to do whatever they liked to make the painting – to feel as free and happy as when they were children playing. And they did!

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2015-2016

American author, columnist and presidential speechwriter William Safire (1929-2009) defined machismo, from the Spanish “macho” (male), as referring to the “condescension of the swaggering male; the trappings of manliness used to dominate women and keep them 'in their place.'” (Safire's new political dictionary: The definitive guide to the new language of politics, Random House, 1993, p 427.) In these works I have used found objects such as discarded screws and nails, as well as shiny metallic paints reminiscent of the bodywork of the customised cars favoured by young men. The paintings explore both the outlook of the macho male and the effects on the females they attract or encounter.

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