When late Greeley artist Judith Meyer was commissioned to do a picture or portrait of an animal, she would insist on meeting the animal herself, rather than simply having the customer send pictures.
“She could capture that feeling that you get when you look at an animal and you can see their essence and their soul,” said Trudy Rider, Meyers’ eldest daughter. “If they’re a little spry, or if they’re a little feisty.”
Her ability to depict an animal’s personality in her art was one of many of Meyer’s legacies. An internationally known Western and wildlife artist, Meyer captured the natural world on paper. She died July 27 of natural causes at the age of 80 at Meadowview of Greeley.
Meyer was born Aug. 7, 1941, in Des Moines, Iowa. She grew up with a love for the outdoors, saying she would rather “traipse through the woods than do the things she thought of as ‘girlie,” according to her obituary.
Rider described her mother as an outdoorsy, tomboy with a love for horses and the wilderness, which luckily stuck around into Rider’s childhood.
In high school, Meyer developed a love for art, Rider said. After graduating, she got her first job at Hallmark Cards, where she learned how to use watercolors — which quickly became Meyer’s main medium as an artist.
In 1961, she married Hans Meyer. One year later, Rider came into the world.
When their family moved to Colorado, Rider’s parents continued to instill a love for the outdoors, exploring their surroundings and horseback riding into their children, who grew up with ponies.
The Meyer family also became well-known in the community for their Greeley bakery, Bake-Rite. Though cooking was more of her husband’s forte, people could always find Meyer helping out and interacting with customers.
Jennifer DeNoncourt, a friend of Meyer, said everyone from Greeley remembered the bakery, and people still share their memories of Meyer and her husband’s friendliness and good sense of humor on the Facebook page “You know you are from Greeley if…”
“Both were incredible people and well-loved,” DeNoncourt said about Judith and Hans. “While working downtown in Greeley, my husband, like many of the Greeleyites, loved going into the Bake-Rite Bakery to get the best pastries in town.”
Along with raising four children, Meyer became a grandmother to six grandchildren and a great-grandmother to 17 great-grandchildren. Later in life, after her four children were grown, she took on painting full-time.
Magazines and calendars regularly featured Meyer’s work. Local galleries including the now-closed Thunderbird Gallery, formerly owned by Larry and Jean Mueller, also showed Meyer’s work.
DeNoncourt said Meyer would bring in homemade cinnamon crispies for all of the artists to enjoy at the Thunderbird Gallery — a time when the two really got to know each other better.
“She had a story behind all of her paintings,” Meyer shared. “One painting that she had was of a raccoon that climbed up to the top of a light pole. It really happened in her backyard.”
The University of Northern Colorado awarded Meyer an associate degree based on her life’s work, and she later earned her bachelor’s in fine arts.
“She’s not really well known, but the people who do have her artwork just absolutely love it,” Rider said. “They can never say enough about all the detail.”
In her later years, when she wasn’t working in her studio on her property or spending time on her porch, Meyer also taught a painting class called “Sketching & Painting With Judy” at the Greeley Active Adult Center.
“Her students loved her, and she was a delight to work with,” Recreation Coordinator Sheri Lobmeyer said. “Judy never turned anyone away and always encouraged each artist to do the best they can.”
Rider remarked Meyer was “something else,” while reflecting back on her mother’s life. With a laugh of her own, Rider remembered Meyer’s great laugh, along with her feistiness and stubbornness.
“She was stubborn,” Rider said. “I don’t know if that’s one of the great traits, but I’d grown up to appreciate her stubbornness because it taught me not to give up when things got tough.
“I loved her so much. I miss her so much.”
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Loved ones remember Greeley artist, former owner of Bake-Rite Bakery - Greeley Tribune
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