About Us
Ceramics
The Studios is a unique working, creative environment. It has a full clay studio with wheels, slab roller and late high fire kiln facilities. Individual instruction is available at all levels. Open studio time is available.
Call Judy Pirkey at 941 266 9355 for information and an appointment.
Jewelry
The Studio has a full jewelry studio and showroom featuring one of a kind jewelry by Judy Levine. Individual instruction in jewelry design and fabrication is available at all levels. Open beading studio, Wednesdays from 12N-4PM.
Call Judy Levine at 973 214 1072 for information and an appointment.
Some Work Examples
Biography
Judith Levine coordinated grants at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall integrating the arts into the curriculum in the Sarasota Schools. She teaches art courses at the University of South Florida in Sarasota and owns Phoenix Arts Workshops, a business providing art talks and educational workshops.
She was Coordinator of Teacher Professional Development at Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, N.J. Judith developed the workshops, engaged the presenters and initiated a lecture series on Cutting Edge Science. She also wrote and presented science and arts integrated programming over video conferencing technology.
Judith was the recipient of grants to travel, study, and photograph the art of Tibet, West Africa, Egypt and Indonesia. She designs and creates limited edition jewelry.
Judith Levine attended Rutgers and Fairleigh Dickenson Universities and attained a B.A. in Art and Art Education. She earned an M.A. in Visual Arts from Montclair State University, New Jersey where she was on the art education faculty. She was an art educator and district art supervisor in Parsippany, N.J. for more than 30 years and was awarded Art Educator of the Year locally and statewide.
Some Work Examples
Biography
Judy Pirkey brings a wealth of experience to her art. She is both a serious as well as an impassioned potter and teacher who loves to have fun while creating her works.
She has studied with many master potters throughout the world and has been especially privileged to study with the late M.C. Richards ("Centering") as well as continuing her studies with Ki Woon Huh, a Master Korean Potter. She has exhibited in many art galleries including Venice Art Center, Sarasota Art Center, the Fine Art Society and various galleries throughout the country. She belongs to the Professional Women's Association, as well as being a member of the Sarasota Arts Center and the Sarasota Fine Arts Society.
Judy has taught art and pottery for the past 15 years. Her students range in age from 4 to 80 years old. Previous to her career in art, she created and built oceanariums throughout the world. As a result of her unique experiences, she lectured throughout the world on the importance of the oceans and their environs. She has traveled extensively in the Far East and her love of both the culture and the art are inherent in her designs, her pottery and her teaching techniques.
Judy's creations today - be they pots, sculptures or assemblages of diverse objects - are an amalgam of the many places where she has resided or visited. Her best works consist of exquisite pieces of porcelain, clay sculpture, and Raku, decorated with the beauty that reflects nature, color and texture. She has many students who arrive daily at her workshop to study technique, color theory, and how to translate their idea into an art piece. She believes that everyone can do pottery, it's really a matter of letting go of preconceived notions, thus freeing oneself to CREATE.