Dates

• Existence: 1941 - 2021

Biography

Judith Sutcliffe is an artist whose work includes tile painting, printing letterpress books, and designing type. In 1946, at the age of five, she moved to Audubon, Iowa, with her parents. She later graduated from Audubon Community High School as valedictorian and then majored in English and Chinese at the University of Iowa, graduating summa cum laude in 1963. In 1968, after working at a variety of occupations elsewhere, Sutcliffe returned to Audubon and formed Greentree Enterprises. Under the auspices of this company, she collaborated with Joan Liffring-Zug on the hand-manufacture of over seventy editions of Iowa Heritage Collectors plates. She also created, in conjunction with Lorraine Larsen, limited editions of American Child Dolls. Their projects included designing and making the Iowa First Lady Dolls, which are on permanent display in the State Capitol, and dolls for the animated film, Raggedy Ann and Andy. Sutcliffe moved to Santa Barbara, California, in 1978 and began a business painting tile murals (an activity she had begun in Iowa). Her murals can be found in several public locations around Santa Barbara including outside the courthouse. Soon after her move to California, Sutcliffe purchased two letterpresses and began printing letterpress book editions with linocut illustrations. In 1984, she purchased a Macintosh computer and expanded her business to include designing type for the Macintosh. Thereafter, she divided her business activities between tile and type. Sutcliffe moved back to Audubon in 1996. Sutcliffe was involved in the production of several books in addition to the letterpress volumes she prints herself. She published her father's autobiography, Memories of an Iowa Veterinarian, and a book on tuberculosis which she co-authored with her mother, Grandma Cherry's Spoon: A Story of Tuberculosis. Sutcliffe also published a coloring book of her nature drawings entitled California Wildflower Drawings. She died in 2021 in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

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