Judy Polstra is a self- taught artist who grew up surrounded by art, books, and sewing. Born in New Mexico in 1965, she grew up in North Canton, Ohio. She says: "My Mother taught me embroidery basics at age 7. Needlework is an art to which I've returned many times throughout my life- in times of stress, as a creative outlet, and as a source of meditation. The slowness and deliberateness of it.... I have always found to be calming. Embroidery, knitting, crocheting, sewing....most of the women through the generations in my family were skilled at one or more of these arts". Judy's mother was both a seamstress and an oil painter who inspired her daughter to create from a very young age. Judy was always surrounded by fabrics, pattern books, classical music and oil paints. She received her BA in business studies with a specialty in Fashion Merchandising, but she never lost her passion for the arts. ( She's also a classical pianist.) Her focus in art was drawing, acrylic painting, and playing the piano for the first 3 decades of her life. Judy transitioned into mixed media sculptures and assemblages after the death of her mother and both grandmothers left her a vast inheritance of vintage buttons, costume jewelry and textiles.

Now in her fifties, Judy is dedicating all of her artistry to her hand embroidery roots. It is here where her love of drawing and fiber art is merged. Judy embroiders almost exclusively on vintage textiles. Fans of Judy’s works now often gift her with vintage textiles from their own families. Judy calls herself an “accidental activist” and uses embroidery to stitch political statements, as well as personal confessions and observations. A recent article stated that “Polstra’s work looks quaint from afar, but both terrorizes and amuses upon close inspection”. She is inspired by women’s issues and politics as well as vintage and current fashion. She refuses to believe that hand embroidery (historically considered “women’s work”) is any less valid a form of art than any other art medium.

Her work is being shown this fall locally in "Hand and I: mending the world one stitch at a time" at FAU's Schmidt Gallery through 2/14/2020, in galleries in Chicago and New York, and in an assemblage and collage exposition in Belgium.