Schwarz is anAssociate Professor atYork University in Toronto, where she teaches sculpture and drawing at both graduate and undergraduate levels.[3] In 1978 she began her career at York University and in 1995 she received a full-time appointment to the Faculty of Fine Arts.[4] Schwarz is known for her outdoor abstractsculptures,[2] integrating art with the environment.[3]
Schwarz's earliest sculptural exhibit, entitledParallel Language (1987), was a three-part work juxtaposing a circular die-cut steel sheet wall mounted, angling out from it onto the floor—a steel beam, and a leaf shaped steel stencil next to a beautiful slab of oak.[5] In a review written by Linda Genereux inArtforum, Genereux states"The strength of Judith Schwarz's work depends upon her dexterous handling of material and a growing vocabulary of forms..."[5]
Schwarz has created public commissions in both Vancouver and Toronto, Canada.[3] Among her commissions in Toronto are theNautilus Gateway (1992), a stainless steel and bronze sculpture in Waterpark Place, Bay Street and Queen's Quay andSpiral Fountain (1990), a bronze fountain for the Hotel Deck at Skydome. Schwarz's sculpturePacific Spiral (2003) was among 350 outdoor artworks celebrated in Vancouver during the 2014 Culture Days Celebration, as part of a national Culture Days campaign designed to promote artistic activities across Canada.[8] InFrancois-Marc Gagnon's description of Schwarz's sculptures inThe Canadian Encyclopedia, Gagnon states
"..."the elegant, flame-cut steel cosmological configurations of Judith Schwarz invent rather than transform cultural signs and devices whose mysteries are embedded as much in the juxtaposition of the materials, glass, steel, and wood as in their form".[9]
In 1990 at the 75th Anniversary of the Emily Awards, Schwarz was presented with an Emily Award. She was among the 75 distinguished alumni of Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design that were recognized for their outstanding career achievements.[10]
The University of Waterloo Art Gallery circulated a 10-year retrospective of Schwarz's work, titledDissembling Structures, curated by James D. Campbell. This exhibition was presented at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo (1998), the Concordia University's Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Toronto (1998),[11] and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's Charles S. Scott Art Gallery, Vancouver (1999).[12]
Recent Sculpture, Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario (1985)[13]
Shadow of the Palace, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario (1986)[14]
Reciprocation, The Gallery/Stratford, Stratford, Ontario(1989)[15]
Judith Schwarz, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor Ontario (1989);[16][17] Art Gallery of York University; Toronto, Ontario (1990); Centennial Gallery, Oakville, Ontario (1991)[18]
Old Man River Exhibition, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta (1991)[19]
Fictive Space Collaborative Exhibition with Arlene Stamp, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, Alberta (1994)[20]
Dissembling Structures/Structures dissimulees – a survey of Judith Schwarz sculpture 1989–1998, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario (1998); Helen & Bina Ellen Art Gallery - Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec (1998); and the Charles S. Scott Art Gallery - Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, British Columbia (1999)[12]
Portal, two person exhibition with Schwarz and Carmelo Arnoldin, Koeffler Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2000)[22]
Judith Schwarz:Heterodoxy, a club for unorthodox women. The radical feminists of Heterodoxy: Greenwich Village, 1912-1940. Thesis (M.A.),San Jose State University 1977
Dewdney, Christopher; Stebbins, Joan (1986)Judith Schwarz (catalogue) Lethbridge, Canada: Southern Alberta Art Gallery
McEvilley, Thomas (1995)Fictive Space Judith Schwarz and Arlene Stamp,(catalogue) Calgary, Canada: Illingworth Kerr Gallery of the Alberta College of Art and DesignISBN189508640X[24]
Campbell, James D.; Wyatt, Joseph (1998)Dissembling Structures: a survey of Judith Schwarz sculpture, 1989-1998 (catalogue) Waterloo, Canada: University of Waterloo Art GalleryISBN0969382316[12]
^Dault, Gary Michael (25 September 2004)."The knotty question of perception". No. Arts. Toronto, Canada: The Globe and Mail, Inc. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved25 April 2019.
