Born and raised in Melbourne, I’ve lived in the Adelaide Hills for the past four decades. My career as a neuroscientist has been replaced by full-time pursuit of the visual arts from my home studio. I am fascinated with the overall forms and surfaces in nature, as well as the underlying detailed structures. A major feature of my drawings is the behaviour of light as it is reflected, refracted or absorbed by living things and other objects. The tonal realism of my work seeks to capture sensations of texture, depth and movement, achieved by a slow process of detailed mark making on paper. I have been drawing full time and exhibiting since 2009.
Awards & Finalists
• Honourable Mention, 2024 Celia Rosser Award, The Art of Botanical Illustration, Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.
• Finalist, 2023 WAMA Art Prize.
• Finalist, 2023 Bluethumb Art Prize.
• Honourable Mention, 2022 Celia Rosser Award, The Art of Botanical Illustration, Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.
• Finalist, 2022 SALA City of Unley Active Ageing Award .
• Finalist, 2022 Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize .
• Madeleine Taylor Award, Highly Commended, Botanical Art Society of Australia, Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, 2022.
• Finalist, 2021 Bluethumb Art Prize.
• Honourable Mention in Madeleine Taylor Award, Flora, Botanical Art Society of Australia exhibition, Hobart, October, 2021.
• Winner of the Madeleine Taylor Award for Best in Show, Flora, Botanical Art Society of Australia Exhibition, 2019.
• Finalist in the 2018 Emma Hack Art Prize.
• Finalist in the 2017 Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize.
• High Commendation in the 2017 Mitcham Art Prize.
• Finalist in the 2017 Emma Hack Art Prize.
• Winner of the 2016 Mitcham Art Prize.
• Selected for the Pencil Art Society 2nd International Juried Exhibition, 2016.
• Finalist in the 2016 Fleurieu Food & Wine Art Prize.
• Finalist in the 2016 Emma Hack Art Prize.
• Invited participant in the 2013 Kedumba Drawing Award.
• Finalist in the 2012 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize.
• Finalist in the 7th Prospect Portrait Prize, 2011.
• Finalist in the Nora Heysen Centenary Art Prize, 2011.
• Finalist in the 2011 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize.
• Finalist in the 2011 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing.
• Commendation in the 2010 Cancer Council Victoria Arts Awards.
Solo exhibitions
• Larger Than Life – a retrospective of drawings, Art Expression at 123 Fisher, Living Choice Fullarton, SA 5063, 4 April – 30 May, 2024.
• Inflorescent, Hughes Gallery, Fullarton Park Community Centre, Fullarton, SA, SALA Festival, 4 – 27 August, 2023.
• Floribunda – drawings by Judy Morris with poems by Ian Gibbins, Hahndorf Academy, Main Street Hahndorf, SA 5245, 13 June – 26 July, 2015.
• Sensurious – drawings to stimulate the senses, The Gallery @ Pikes, Polish Hill River Road, Sevenhill, via Clare, SA 5453, 1 February – 26 March, 2014; and at Magpie Springs, Brookman Road, Hope Forest, SA 5172, 10 October, 2014 – 26 January, 2015.
• Laws of Nature, Art Images Gallery, Norwood, 31 August – 23 September, 2012.
• Extension – drawings of the exercising body, Flinders Medical Centre Promenade Gallery B, 29 March – 22 May, 2011.
Group exhibitions (partial list)
2024
• The Art of Botanical Illustration 17th Biennial Exhibition, Domain House, Melbourne, 28 September – 12 October, 2024.
• CanAssist Southern Highlands Botanical Art & Illustration Prize, Botanical Art Society of Australia, Retford Park, Bowral, NSW, 18 July-25 August, 2024.
• Plantae 2024, Society of Botanical Artists Online Exhibition, 1-30 June, 2024 (2 works selected).
• Botanical Art Society of Australia Exhibition at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, 20-24 March 2024.
• Gallery One 50th Anniversary Exhibition, 1 Torrens Road, Mitcham, SA, 1-22 March 2024.
• Victor Harbor Art Show, Warland Reserve, Victor Harbor, SA 5211, 11-18 January, 2024.
2023
• CanAssist Southern Highlands Botanical Art & Illustration Prize, Botanical Art Society of Australia and Can|Assist Southern Highlands, Retford Park, Bowral, NSW, 3-29 October, 2023.
• Flora: The Art and Science of the Plant, Botanical Art Society of Australia Exhibition, Holmes à Court Gallery, West Perth, WA, 2 Sept – 14 October, 2023.
• WAMA Art Prize Exhibition of Finalists, Ararat Gallery TAMA, Ararat, Vic, 19 August – 19 November, 2023.
• Botanical Art Society of Australia Exhibition at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Carlton Exhibition Building, Melbourne, 29 March – 2 April, 2023.
2022
• Poetry of the Earth, Fleurieu Arthouse, McLaren Vale, SA, 8 October – 20 November, 2022.
• The Art of Botanical Illustration 16th Biennial Exhibition, Domain House, Melbourne, 16 September – 2 October, 2022.
• Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize, Marion Cultural Centre, Marion, SA, 5 – 28 August, 2022.
• Can|Assist Southern Highlands Botanical Art and Illustration Prize, Botanical Art Society of Australia and Can|Assist Southern Highlands, Retford Park, Bowral, NSW, 16 July – 14 August, 2022.
• Botanical Art Society of Australia Exhibition at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Carlton Exhibition Building, Melbourne, 30 March – 3 April, 2022.
2021
• Flora: The Art and Science of the Plant, Botanical Art Society of Australia Exhibition, Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart, 26 October – 6 November, 2021 [3 drawings exhibited].
2020
• The Art of Botanical Illustration, 15th Biennial Exhibition, Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, online exhibition 19 September – 31 December, 2020 [3 drawings selected].
• Flora 2020, Botanical Art Society of Australia Online Exhibition, 14 November 2020 – 14 February 2021 [3 drawings exhibited].
2019
• Flora: The Art and Science of the Plant, Botanical Art Society of Australia Members’ Exhibition, Art Space on the Concorde, Chatswood NSW, 28 August – 8 September, 2019 [Pencil drawing Eryngium planum].
• Botanical Art Society of Australia exhibition at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, 27 – 31 March, 2019.
2018
• The Nature of Us, Diana Bradshaw, Bob Landt & Judy Morris, Gallery One, Mitcham SA, 24 August – 14 September, 2018.
• Flora of Australia: Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition presented by the Botanical Art Society of Australia, Ainslie Art Centre, Braddon, ACT, 18 – 27 May, 2018.
• Botanical Art Society of Australia exhibition at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, 21 – 25 March, 2018.
2017
• Flora – the art and science of the plant, Botanical Art Society of Australia at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, 31 August – 11 September, 2017.
• Gallery M Contemporary Art Prize exhibition of finalists, Gallery M, Marion, SA, 4 – 27 August, 2017 [Pencil drawing ‘Across the continents we traced prehistoric paths’].
• Mitcham Art Prize 2017 Exhibition, Gallery One, Mitcham, SA, 16 June – 8 July, 2017 [Pencil drawing Manipulandum, awarded High Commendation].
2016
• Pencil Art Society International Open Juried Exhibition, Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts, Ottawa, Canada, 29 September – 11 October, 2016 [Pencil drawing Intermingle].
• Mitcham Art Prize Exhibition, Gallery One, Mitcham SA, 16 June – 9 July, 2016 [Pencil drawing Sigh, awarded Winner].
• Fleurieu Food & Wine Art Prize exhibition of finalists, McLaren Vale, SA, 4 June – 29 July, 2016 [Pencil drawing Heirlooms].
• Emma Hack Art Prize exhibition of finalists in the foyer of the Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, SA, 9 Feb – 13 March, 2016 [Pencil drawing Spoken].
2015
• ‘Moments’, SALA group exhibition at Centennial Park, Pasadena, SA, 3 – 31 August, 2015.
2014
• ‘Art for All’ Group Exhibition, Art Images Gallery, Norwood, 28 November, 2014 – 8 February, 2015.
2013
• Kedumba Drawing Award, Wild Valley Art Park, Wentworth Falls, NSW, 27 October – 30 November, 2013 [Graphite drawing Shelter, invited entry].
2012
• Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize 2012 Exhibition, South Australian Museum, 21 July – 9 September, 2012 [Pencil drawing Veiled].
2011
• 7th Prospect Portrait Prize Exhibition, Prospect Gallery, Nailsworth, SA, 11 December, 2011 – 15 January, 2012. [Charcoal drawing Too Much Certainty].
• 11th Heysen Prize Exhibition, Hahndorf Academy, 8 October – 4 December, 2011 [Coloured pencil drawing Trove].
• Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize 2011 Exhibition, South Australian Museum, 16 July – 4 September, 2011 [Graphite drawing Parched].
• Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2011 Exhibition of Finalists, Adelaide Perry Gallery, ‘The Croydon’ Centre, PLC Sydney, Croydon, NSW, 25 Februrary – 26 March, 2011 [Charcoal drawing Reprieve].
2010
• ‘Lost and Found’, Cancer Council Victoria Arts Awards 2010, Melbourne, 11-30 July, Bendigo 16 August – 2 September, 2010; Warrnambool, 28 September – 17 October, Morwell 6 – 30 November, 2010 [George’s Legacy awarded commendation].
2009
• ‘Not Absolute: Translating the Body’, Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide, 24 July – 27 September, 2009, as part of SALA Festival. Included 4 multi-media installations developed in collaboration with Catherine Truman and Ian Gibbins.
Collections with my work
State Botanical Collection, National Herbarium of Victoria
Arts in Health, Flinders Medical Centre.
Anatomy Museum, Flinders University.
Royal Institution of Australia, Adelaide.
Private collections in Australia, Argentina, China, England, France, Scotland.
Published drawings
Cover illustrations for Ian Gibbins’ poetry collection Urban Biology, Friendly Street Poets and Wakefield Press, Norwood/Kent Town, SA, 2012, ISBN 9781743050996.
Floribunda, drawings by Judy Morris with poems by Ian Gibbins, Mt Barker, SA, 2015, 32 pages, ISBN 9780646937892.