This is an elegantly produced biography and art book, with an underlying love story. In large coffee table format, 11 " x 11", with 404 pages, the biography part of the volume is richly illustrated with colour and early black and white photos. The text is poignantly enlivened with many of Judith's letters and poems. The art section contains more than 250 colour plates of her outstanding art work. The layout and design of the book are of award-winning quality, making it highly suitable for presentation as a gift.
The book will be exhibited at the Frankfurt Book Fair in the fall of 1999 and it has been accepted by Germany's Stiftung Buchkunst for entry in the prestigious world-wide book design competition at Leipzig (March 1999). Canada's foremost printing firm, Friesens Corporation, printed the book and consider it one of the finest books they have produced. They will enter it in the Printing Industries of America competition for the Benjamin Franklin Award for book design and book jacket design. It is also being submitted for various awards for its writing. After its launch it was a bestseller in hardcover.
Readers call it Canada's "Love Story" -- a fairy tale romance of a Canadian geography professor and a beautiful talented multimedia Indonesian artist -- with the possibility of a movie. Love for John and Judith was magical and seemingly endless, until Judith's sudden death in 1996. To survive soul-destroying grief and agony, John managed to write a captivating story of Judith's fascinating life, with half the book devoted to glorious plates of her remarkable art.
A multimedia artist, Judith received acclaim in Canada and internationally, primarily for her art work in batik, ceramics, and handpainted tiles. She was also accomplished in sculpted porcelain wayang puppets, watercolour painting, folk art painting, copper plate etching, stained glass, fashion design, and photography. She had exhibitions all across Canada and a number in Europe. One of her works is on permanent exhibit at the Netherlands Tile Museum. She won many honours and awards, and there are photos of her work in the national art collection at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa.
The more than 250 colour plates in the book represent an exhibition of three decades of Judith's work, some photos so expertly reproduced that they appear almost three-dimensional.
