Judy O’Shea is an installation artist and author based in Northern California who has built successful careers in both the corporate and art worlds. After working in the biotechnology industry for more than 25 years, O’Shea transformed from a corporate executive and investor to an installation artist after she and her husband bought an 18th-century water mill in Plaisance, France. She recently published Water Paper Stone: Letters from a Mill in France, a memoir of her personal and artistic journey during her time in the Aveyron department of that country.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich., O’Shea started her career at Dow Corning and 3M. She soon moved into an executive role at Collagen Corporation and became active in the early days of the San Francisco venture capital investment scene. In 1989, she helped found Cholestech, a worldwide leader in accessible diagnostic tools with successful products that are still on the market today.
O’Shea left the corporate world to study at the San Francisco Art Institute before moving to France with her husband, Mike. There, they revitalized a water mill in the Aveyron region and originated an artist-in-residence program, hosting more than 30 artists from France and the U.S. O’Shea’s large-scale installation art has been shown widely in both France and the U.S. In addition to publishing her memoir, she is currently working on Water Paper Stone: A Walk-Through Book, an art installation that will celebrate her experiences in Water Paper Stone and will be shown at the San Francisco Center for the Book, Sept. 4 – Dec. 5, 2014. The installation will include artworks by 18 of the French and American artists who participated in the artist-in-residence program.
INSTALLATIONS
2014 Water Paper Stone: A Walk-Through Book, San Francisco Center for the Book
Sept. 4 –Dec. 4, San Francisco, California
2013 Poet Boats, MOMA Artists’ Gallery, San Francisco, California
2013 Poet Boats, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, California
2012 À lure, Canessa Gallery, San Francisco, California
2006 Ladies in Waiting, Musée de la Brebies, Saint-Affrique, France
2005 La Perspective, Galerie Sainte-Catherine, Rodez, France
2005 Passing Through, a collaboration, The Works, San Jose, California
2004 La Boussoule, Médiathèque, Albi, France
2004 Mes Secrets, Layrolle, Latour-sur-Sorgues, France
2004 Arthur Brut, in collaboration with Carole Beadle, Espace Brut, Martrin, France
2001 Cintres de ciel, Maison Fonpeyrouse, Cordes-sur-Ciel, France
2000 Seminar on contemporary art, Abbaye de Sylvanès, France
2000 Le Fond, Château de Coupiac, France
2000 Livraison, Galerie Calligramme, Cahors, France
1999 Château de cartes, Château de Coupiac, France
1999 Illumination, San Francisco Museum of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, California
1998 Histoires d’eau, Caves de l’Évêché, Vabres-l’Abbaye, France
1998 Les Tresses, Château de Coupiac, Coupiac, France
1997 Le Réel et l’imaginaire, Musée du Rouergue, Salles-la-Source, France
1997 Rêves d’un meunier, Château de Coupiac, Coupiac, France
1997 Des outils du meunier, La Pilande Basse, Plaisance, France
1996 Les Nouveaux Troubadours, group show, Saint-Sever-du-Moustier, France
1995 Les Chaises, La Pilande Basse, Plaisance, France
1994 Des Oeufs de champignons, Shallow Beach Association, Inverness, California
1994 TELL-APPA-THEE, group show, 915 Battery, San Francisco, California
CURATED SHOWS
2001 Château de Coupiac, France
2000 Château de Coupiac, France
1999 TELL-APPA-THEE, group show, Wallace Allen Healey, 915 Battery Street, co-curator with Richard Berger, and with the cooperation of the San Francisco Art Institute
1999 Château de Coupiac, France
1998 Château de Coupiac, France