Judy O’Shea is an installation artist based on Telegraph Hill and Inverness who has built successful careers in both the corporate and art worlds.

 

After working in the biotechnology industry for more than 25 years, O’Shea transformed from an executive to an installation artist after she and her husband bought an 18th-century water mill in the Roquefort cheese region of France Profonde. There, they restored the mill to grind their own flour and walnut oil.

 

They originated an artist-in-residence program, and for seventeen years they hosted artists from France and the U.S. O’Shea’s large-scale installation art has been shown in both France and the U.S., most recently at the Sonoma Valley Museum.

 

O’Shea will talk using a series of photos about her experience of meeting, befriending, and finally becoming part of the community in a rural area of France where Roquefort sheep outnumber humans ten to one. She’ll explore the restoration of a ruin of the mill, learning French on the fly, and the ridiculous situations that occur in a foreign culture. She started out looking for cultural differences and was surprised by her final conclusions, all of which she’ll share.