A Fresno artist with an eye for sculpture design, passion for children, has died
Fresno native and longtime artist Margaret Hudson died Sunday, according to a statement from her son. She was 93.
Hudson put about 50 years into the arts and her work can still be seen in the Central Valley. Her life-size sculptures included “Mama Bear” at Valley Children’s Hospital and several more at Fresno Chaffee Zoo, including “Climables” — a series of artworks given that name because they welcome children to sit on them.
Many of her hundreds of sculpture designs depict whimsical versions of animals native to California, like quails, owl and bears, often smiling.
Smiling children are another common design in her works, which continue to be sold out of her studio. They were made by hand with Hans Sumpf clay, without glaze, her biography says, before being put into a kiln.
Hudson’s son, Robert, issued a statement, noting his mother’s health had been declining for some time.
“The same creative energy and loving spirit that she shared with so many Fresnans remained very much alive through several years of slowly declining health,” he wrote. “Her three sons and four grandchildren greatly appreciate all the love shown to Margaret over the years by this community, her faithful friends, co-workers at Earth Arts Studio, and devoted caregivers at Victoria’s Care Home.”
“As she neared the end of life, Margaret only wanted her family to tell people: ‘I love them very much,’ ” the family statement said.
Hudson married her husband, Gilbert, and sailed off to South Korea in 1955, according to her biography. As missionaries, Margaret and Gilbert Hudson taught English and physics, respectively.
They came back to the United States in the late-1960s, according to her biography. As her art became more popular in the 1970s, she brought on others to recreate her designs and craft them by hand.
She bought the Earth Arts Studio near Ashlan and Blackstone avenues in 1980 and operated a storefront for her work. “(S)he always operated Earth Arts as an expression of her values by employing other women and recent immigrants and by involving her employees in business decisions as much as possible,” her biography says.
The studio’s backyard patio is green with vegetation and has host thousands of children during field trips.
“She was very big on supporting the arts and the community,” Hudson assistant Inez Tilden told the Bee in 2017.
Details on a memorial service were not immediately available.
