Judith (Judy) Roth (née Shuman), born in Boston in 1935, was a renowned Chicago-based artist. She received her bachelor of fine arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Tufts University) and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While at Skowhegan during the summer of 1956, she was invited to contribute a fresco panel on one of the sides of the gallery. After completing her section of the South Solon Meeting House and finishing her BFA in 1957, Roth and her husband settled in Chicago. There, she first designed window displays for the department store Marshall Fields & Company but eventually continued to study and teach at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College. Her art has been widely exhibited, and she was the recipient of many awards and purchase prizes, including an Illinois Arts Council Project Completion Grant, which culminated in a one-person show at the Illinois Arts Council in Chicago. She also served as president of the Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art (2001–05) and was one of the founders of the Ravenswood Art Walk. Judith Roth passed away in 2019.
—Robert I. Villani
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- Loyola University Chicago; Women and Leadership Archives. “Judith Roth Papers at the WLA.”
- Loyola University Chicago; Women and Leadership Archives. “Judith Roth: Documents.”
- Ridener, Miranda. “Artists in the WLA: Judith Roth.” Women and Leadership Archives 28 April, 2021.
- Wagendorf, Gene, III. “Remembering Judith Roth, Artist & Ravenswood ArtWalk Co-Founder.” Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce, 5 September, 2022.