Judy Molyneux (1942-2025)

Judy Molyneux’s later works are boldly colored and textured abstractions, but in the 1970s and 1980s, her realism paintings captured the ambiance of Bolinas, and its local characters. This painting is a snapshot in time. Early morning light pours over Bolinas Ridge and down Wharf Road onto Smiley’s Schooner Saloon and its stone wall. On the right, we see the edge of the first community mural on the side of Bolinas Market. Beyond the market, there is the cafe, and the roof of what is today Bolinas Museum. 

Molyneux earned a BFA and MFA from the University of Michigan. She is a member of The Outsiders, a contemporary Bay Area group of plein air painters. Her art has been presented in galleries and museums from New York to California, including for years in SFMOMA Artists Gallery, and her work is in permanent collections such as at the Crocker Museum. Molyneux settled in Bolinas in 1970 and has actively promoted the community of artists in San Francisco and locally. She opened Bolinas Gallery in 1980, the longest running gallery in coastal Marin. She exhibited there and provides artists with the opportunity to rent the gallery space and present their work. She often used the gallery as a venue for exhibitions and events to raise money to help others, whether for a local with medical needs, or people caught in international crises. Her main inspiration came from people, events and the landscape of Bolinas.