BIO & C.V.
ABOUT
Judith Roston Freilich’s work was inspired at a young age by her parents and grandparents who lived their passions through the cycles of the seasons and of all living things. She was immersed in music, beautiful books, teaching, fine fabrics, and memories of walks with her father in his garden, watching plants grow and cutting open unusual vegetables and fruit. There was always something to learn and explore. These early passions are reflected in her work, remembering the importance of knowing our inner self.
A Chicago native, Roston Freilich has worked and shown in Chicago for more than forty-five years. She has exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and venues throughout Chicagoland and nationally. Her work has been selected for the Rockford Midwestern Biennial at the Rockford Art Museum, the Evanston and Vicinity Biennial at the Evanston Art Center, and the Bradley International Print and Drawing Show. She is in multiple publications and permanent collections, including the Library of Congress and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. She was chosen by The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild, to be part of their 2024 Spring Online Exhibition, receiving the First Place Award. In 2025, the Collage Artists of America invited her to present an international online keynote address about her work and her process, opening up new concepts of collage.
In the community, Roston Freilich is a part of artist Sarah Krepp’s Dialogue Chicago, a supportive, interdisciplinary group of working artists who meet monthly to view and discuss their work. The artist was also a member of Space 900, a cooperative gallery where she showed frequently.
Roston Freilich has always advocated for integrating the arts into everyday life, bringing art into classrooms, and blending visual arts and music. She made music with her husband and their four children as they were growing up, and toured Europe and China with high school musicians, experiencing these young people playing the national anthem around the globe. For many years, she annually organized one hundred volunteers for the New Trier Jazz Festival that hosted high school musicians statewide. Roston Freilich has brought visual arts to music festivals and arts retreats for high school students, helping them integrate their passion for visual arts into their lives. She has led adult creativity workshops exploring the creative process opening new doors through new thinking.
Roston Freilich earned a BFA and a merit-based scholarship award from Washington University in St. Louis. While working at Landfall Press, as a printing assistant and curator, she earned a graduate degree in printmaking with Misch Kohn from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Merit Scholarship Award
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking under Misch Kohn
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE
Landfall Press, Curator and Printer’s Assistant, Chicago, IL
Dinner Career Seminar, Talking with the Artist, Glencoe, IL
Judaism and Drawing, Artist’s Talk, Space 900, Evanston, IL
The Creative Process, Women’s Retreat Workshop, Lake Geneva, WI
The Art Center, Drawing Instructor, Highland Park, IL
High School Arts Retreat, Visual Arts Coordinator, Woodstock, IL
Columbus School for Girls, Visual Arts Instructor, Columbus, OH
Columbus School for Girls, Primary Art Instructor, Columbus, OH
Crow Island School Arts Workshop, Visual Arts Coordinator, Winnetka, IL
New Trier High School Jazz Festival, Student Coordinator, Winnetka, IL
SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
Naturally, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL, 2022
What Used to be Right Now, Governors State University, Chicago, IL, 2019
Confluence, Two-Person Exhibition, Space 900 Gallery, Evanston, IL, 2019
Release, Hofheimer Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2018
Absence and Intuition, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2016
Silver Threads and Golden Needles: Drawings and Textiles, Space 900, Evanston, IL, 2015
Installation and Paintings, Rena Sternberg Gallery, Glencoe, IL, 2005
New Works on Paper, Rena Sternberg Gallery, Glencoe, IL, 1999, 2002
Judith Roston Freilich, The Ann Brierly Gallery, Winnetka, IL, 1997
Illinois Arts Council, Chicago, IL, 1973
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 1974
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Currents: The Language of Paper, 33 Contemporary Gallery, Fort Worth, FL
In View 2024, 2025, 2026, The Art Center, Highland Park, IL
Agency, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL, 2024
Small Works, Space 900 Gallery, Evanston, IL, 2024
11th Annual Juried Art Competition, Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, IL, 2023
2021 Evanston + Vicinity Biennial, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL, 2021
Climate Change: Tipping Into Chaos, Online, Sky Day Project and Space 900 Gallery, Evanston, IL, 2020
76th Rockford Midwestern Biennial, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL, 2020
Consciousness of Abstraction: Beyond Literal Appearance, Juror Award, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2020
Threads of Truth, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL, 2020
In Dialogue, Governors State University, Chicago, IL, 2019
It’s a Small Show After All, Hofheimer Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2019
22nd International Open, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2019
Passion and Process, Space 900 Gallery, Evanston, IL, 2019
New Space, Space 900 Gallery, Evanston, IL, 2018
75th Rockford Midwestern Biennial, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL, 2018
Unpresidented: Art in Common Cause, Curator: James Deeb, Space 900, Evanston, IL, 2017
Just Space, Space 900, Evanston, IL, 2016
Light and Dark Exhibition, Space 900 Gallery, Evanston, IL, 2016
Dialogue Chicago: Full Force, Curator: Sarah Krepp, Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, IL, 2016
Absence and Intuition, Two-Person Exhibition, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2016
Between Red and Blue, Space 900, Evanston, IL, 2016
Taking Chances: No/Yes, Dialogue Chicago, Curator: Sarah Krepp, Noyes Cultural Center, Evanston, IL, 2015
Then and Now, Space 900, Evanston, IL, 2014
The Green Show, Space 900, Evanston, IL, 2014
The Grand Opening, Space 900, Evanston, IL, 2013
33rd Bradley International Print and Drawing Show, Peoria, IL, 2011
20th Evanston & Vicinity Biennial, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL, 2010
Rena Sternberg Gallery, Glencoe, IL, 1999–2011
New Noyes, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, IL, Curator: Sarah Krepp, 2010
Prints & Drawings: Works on Paper, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN, 2009
Kaller Fine Arts, Washington, DC, 2009
More Noyes, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, IL, Curator: Sarah Krepp, 2007
Chicago Art Open, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL, 2007
Three Arts Club Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1999
Belloc Lowndes Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1998
Chicago and Vicinity Show, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, OH, 1974
New Horizons Show, North Shore Art League, Chicago, IL
The Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, OH
The Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, NJ
Barat College, Lake Forest, IL
New Bag, Deson-Zaks Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1973
MS in Graphics, Chicago, IL, 1973
ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
Life Cycles IV, Awarded First Place, The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild, International Juried Spring Exhibition, 2024
Collage Artists of America, Keynote Artists Talk, Worldwide, 2025
Sculptures Online Exhibit: Flux: Vita Mutata (Life is changed, not taken away)
Curator: Natsuki Takauji, Virtual Exhibition: November 15 - December 30, 2020
Studio Stories 2020, hosted by Kol HaOt, Curator: Liliach Shrag, Individual interviews with artists about their life and their work
76th Rockford Midwestern Biennial Audio Clips, Rockford Art Museum, 2020-2021 Rockford Biennial artists discuss their work
Climate Change: Tipping Into Chaos, produced video in conjunction with SkyDayProject2020 and Space 900 Gallery, Evanston, IL
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
The First National Bank of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
PANEL DISCUSSIONS & ARTIST TALKS
Collage Artists of America, International Online Keynote Artist Talk and Discussion, 2025
What Used to be Right Now, Governors State University, Chicago, IL, 2019
Confluence, Two-Person Exhibition, Space 900 Gallery, Evanston, IL, 2019
Abstract Art and Its Relevance in Chicago Today, Hofheimer Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2018
JUROR
New Trier High School Advanced Placement Show, Winnetka, IL
57th Street Art Fair, Hyde Park, IL
North Shore Art League, Winnetka, IL
PUBLICATIONS
Judith Roston Freilich, Release, 2018
Judith Roston Freilich, Release, Review by Bruce Thorne, 2018
The Chicago Art Scene, Edited by Ivy Sundell, Crow Woods Publishing, 1998
Soft Sculpture and Other Soft Art Forms, Edited by Dona Z. Meilach, Crow Publishers, New York, 1974
Alan G. Artner, “Hey Mort, They’re Forming Groups Again,” Chicago Tribune, 1973