Judi Tavill: Limina

RED BANK, NJ — Galerie Lucida is pleased to present Limina, a solo exhibition of new sculpture with integrated drawing by Judi Tavill, and the debut of color in her work. The exhibition opens with a reception for the artist on Saturday, November 7, 2026, from 5 to 8 p.m., and remains on view through December 13, 2026.

After many years as a studio potter and decorative ceramic artist, Tavill turned to sculpture, developing a visual language entirely her own. Her undulating biomorphic forms bridge abstraction and the uncanny mechanics of the natural world. They surge and swell, often with appendages that twist, fold, and intertwine with balletic grace.

In her previous body of work, Tavill drew on her sculptures in graphite alone. Limina marks a significant transformation in her oeuvre, both aesthetic and visceral, with the introduction of luminous, polychromatic linework. The effect is beguiling: opalescent surfaces shift in hue, luminosity, and chroma, amplifying the dimensional qualities of her forms.

Tavill's relationship with line and color traces back to her earlier career as head designer at the vibrantly colorful resort-wear brand Lilly Pulitzer. As she puts it:
“Whether I was designing a silhouette or a print, I was always drawing. Now I draw with clay in space as well as on the surface of my sculpture. Line remains the thread through my winding creative path.”

Color has returned too, not to dress or decorate, but to animate and activate her sculptures with new significance. The impact of her choices is visible in the radiating sea greens of Persephone, the soft blues and greens of Ourobora, the deepening violets of Lysanias, and the flush of magenta through Siphaea.

Line becomes form, and form becomes line. Tavill makes each sculpture by hand, coil by coil, building line that moves into space. Openings, folds, passages and extensions let the forms turn in on themselves and open out. As a sculptor, she uses clay as a material and forgoes traditional glaze, cold-finishing each piece by spray painting the fired surface, then drawing tangled linework across it.

The exhibition's title is the plural of the Latin limen, the threshold or place of passage between one space and the next. In the artist's words:
“These works live at the threshold. Not in, not out, not this, not that, but all of those things and none of them. We can hold multitudes. We can become comfortable with the in-between, the unfamiliar yet familiar. For me, that is a resistance to the binary choices we are constantly asked to make today.”

On entering the main gallery, visitors encounter Contiguous, an immersive five-part mixed-media wall sculpture made to echo the look of Tavill's fired clay. It anchors the room and serves as a backdrop for the exhibition. For many visitors, it will be a first encounter with her installation work.

In the two smaller back rooms, the scale shifts from sculptures on individual pedestals to intimate pieces small enough to cradle in the hand. A few works in graphite on painted white fired clay appear among them, with large-scale drawings on the walls.

Exhibition Details
Judi Tavill: Limina November 7 – December 13, 2026
Opening reception: Saturday, November 7, 5–8 p.m. (free and open to the public)
Location: Galerie Lucida, 18 Wallace Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701
Gallery hours: Saturday and Sunday, 12 PM to 6 PM, Weekdays by Appointment