Sunday I told you about the young soccer player whose tragic life story broke your heart. Now, let’s head over to the tony town of Hudson to meet Judy Carducci, a
73-year-old artist who received a standing ovation from LeBron James earlier this spring.
When LeBron James reverses roles and gives someone else a standing ovation, I’ll hear about it. Judy, it turns out, was a performer in the LeBron James vitamin water commercial that ran frequently on TV during the NBA playoffs.
“They had all these actors. What they wanted was an artist,” she said.
Actually, she played a courtroom sketch artist in the
30-second spot which was shot in the Cleveland Convention Center. At one point, LeBron stopped the shooting when he glanced down and realized that Judy was really drawing him — and she was drawing really well.
“He wanted to see all the sketches. He held them up for everyone to see and he had everyone applaud. It was kind of nice,” Judy said.
“He was just as sweet as he can be. He was very gracious. We rehearsed for two days, two 12-hour days. He came in for the last six hours. When it was over, the director had everybody gather for a group picture with LeBron. A ‘team’ picture. I was in front because I’m short. And that’s the long and short of it.”
Judy, a nationally acclaimed portrait artist, was not new to standing ovations. Back in 1999, she got a standing ovation from 500 other artists when her entry was judged best in show at the Portrait Society of America’s annual dinner in Washington, D.C.
The fascinating aspect of this story is that her art career was interrupted for almost four decades when she became a social worker, specializing in treating alcoholics.
She was a commission artist as early as her high school years. People already were paying for her pictures.
After a week of art school in New York City, she concluded that those people were crazy. That was the 1950s, a wacky era when people would toss a bucket of paint on a canvas, walk over it and call it art.
She transferred to the University of Maine, where she majored in social work. Later she earned a master’s from Columbia. She married Dewey Carducci, whose specialty was dealing with troubled children.
Thirteen years ago she retired and returned to art. Just like that, the magic returned to her fingers. She’s now considered one of the best in the country. You can see for yourself by dialing up her Web site at www.judithcarducci.com.
In a few days you’ll see a portrait of me there. She never finished LeBron, but she did finish me.
After two three-hour sittings, I could only blurt out, “I am undeserving.”
Dan Coughlin is a columnist for The Chronicle-Telegram and a sportscaster for Channel 8.
 

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.