‘Chicks with Balls’ on display at Luzerne County Community College
From a press release:
The Schulman Gallery and Luzerne County Community College have balls, and they’ve proven it by welcoming Judy Takács and her award-winning series, “Chicks with Balls.”
Takács has been a painter of people for almost three decades. She focuses primarily on painting people with understanding, irony, and a high degree of painterly realism. Most recently, her work, and most specifically, her series “Chicks with Balls,” has garnered national attention and acclaim.
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In just the past few years, Takács has earned six “Best of Show” awards, won an Ohio Arts Council Grant for Individual Artistic Excellence, been honored with Signature Status by the Akron Society of Artists, and has been awarded and recognized by both the Portrait Society of America and The Art Renewal Center. This impressive short list of her achievements doesn’t begin to illustrate the truly inspiring and extraordinary collection Takács has created.
Before the first “Chick” was painted, Judy spoke with a local art center about having a show there. At the time, most of her works were nude figures. This local, publicly funded art center would not display nude paintings. The director was frustrated by this provincial policy and jokingly referred to the decision makers at city hall as “the sports guys,” implying that the small town cares more about their high school sports than the visual arts.
Takács never did have a show there, but the seeds of an idea were planted. So, she played with the idea of what the “sports guys” would like. The first things that came to mind were paintings of balls – basketballs, footballs, baseballs. What if these balls were covering offending body parts? Thus, the idea for “Chicks was Balls” was born.
Upon further reflection, Judy started to realize that her female friends didn’t have much connection to literal balls, aside from the sports their children played. Yet, there was a different type of balls many of them did have.
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Takács explains, “I discovered a whole lot of ‘figurative balls.’ My friends have shown strength, courage, determination, resiliency, persistence, and unwavering faith in their personal goals and those of their families, often against incredibly difficult odds. We are not running countries or negotiating world peace, but we are the unsung heroines of our smaller, more ordinary lives.”
And there is the heart of this stunningly authentic, moving, and beautiful exhibition: the visual story of the strength – of the balls – of each of these women.
“There is great depth and complexity in the challenges my ladies have faced… and so I found a voice, and a purpose, and a vision for this project. Now I just needed to grow a pair myself and make the ‘Chicks with Balls’ project happen in life as well as in paint.”
And so she has. Judy Takács is certainly a chick with balls: exquisitely and authentically capturing contemporary women, telling their, and our stories, and thereby uniting us all and inspiring women everywhere to celebrate and embrace their story, their empowerment, or rather… their balls.
The opening reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 24 from 5 p.m.-8:30 p.m. at the Schulman Gallery at Luzerne County Community College (1333 S. Prospect St., Nanticoke). In addition to having the opportunity to meet the artist, guests will be treated to an artist’s talk and open forum Q&A with Takács from 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. in the gallery.
Takács will also host a two-day oil painting workshop on Saturday, Oct. 25 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 26 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Only 15 seats are available, so register by downloading the workshop registration brochure here.
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“Chicks with Balls” will be on exhibition through Dec. 9. The Schulman Gallery is open and free to the public Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For additional viewings or special openings or events, contact the curator at 570-740-0727 or acarson@luzerne.edu.
The Schulman Gallery is located in the heart of LCCC’s campus, on the second floor of the Campus Center.
