Judy Takács, the artist formerly known as Judy Takács Pendergast

And, in honor of my birthday…(56 today)…I am reclaiming my artist name…Judy Takács…and dropping my husband's name, Pendergast from my facebook name.

Judy, Judy Judy…Takács

I shall kick off this blog by telling you how much I love my husband.

And, even though I’m dropping his name from my facebook profile, I am totally keeping him!

We are happily settling in to our new empty nester-dom, resurrecting the candle light dinners we used to have 24 years ago, eating al fresco on the deck, traveling and really enjoying each other’s company too. It’s awesome to find out that the man you love is also someone you really really like too!

Here’s why the “Pendergast” was added to my name.

24 years ago we brought home our first born and realized that from that point forward we were no longer just a couple…we were a family.

Sweet Sloth…my oldest just before college

And the fact that we would be a family was the whole reason that when we got married 27 years ago, I added my husband’s name… Pendergast to mine. I eliminated my middle name (Eva) and shuffled my maiden name (Takács…also my artist name) to become my new middle name. My full and legal name became Judy Takács Pendergast…and still is. 

Silent Picture…a self-portrait of the artist Judy Takács

But, this mouthful of a name was never intended to be said together or to be hyphenated. I really had two identities.

I intended to be Judy Takács the artist, and Judy Pendergast the PTA mom.

I would sign Judy Takács to paintings and Judy Pendergast to teacher’s notes.

I would receive payments for paintings and graphic design work as Judy Takács and sign checks for kid’s pre-school enrollment as Judy Pendergast.

But then, facebook came along, and my two worlds collided. I saw that many of my married friends were using both their maiden and married names in their facebook profile so that kindergarten friends could find them, along with their new neighbor. So, I did the same.

Hatchlings…a self-portrait of the artist, Judy Takács

What I didn’t realize was how much I would use facebook to market and talk about my art. And, even though every single one of my social media identities, and even my wikipedia page, only uses my artist name, Judy Takács…

• instagram: @judytakacs
• email:judytakacs@me.com
• website: judytakacs.com and judytakacspaintspeople.com
• facebook page: Judy Takacs, artist and Chicks with Balls: Judy Takács paints unsung female heroes
• blog: chickswithballsjudytakacs.blogspot.com

…I still sometimes see painting labels and artistic venues and art friends refer to me as Judy Pendergast or Judy Takács Pendergast. I bristle that the art identity I was trying so hard to define (Judy Takács the artist) wasn’t sticking. I even wrote a blog article for the Portrait Society of America about this predicament that many women artists have…I called it “Making a name for yourself when you actually have three.”

My favorite line which I wrote for the article was, “It’s hard to market yourself as Coke when you’re also known as Coke-Pepsi.”

So I have decided to drop the Pepsi…the Pendergast…from my facebook name.

From now on, my facebook profile name will be Judy Takács!

Period.

See what I did there? I put “Period” on the next line? Didn’t want to confuse you again!

And, I figured my birthday would be the best time to do this…because after all, 56 years ago today was when I first got the name Judy Takács.

Judy Takács as baby…with rattle…in crib

Thank you for reading to the end and remembering that my facebook name from now on will be Judy Takács!