He Sculpts, She Paints

One day insurance salesman Jeffrey Lochridge told his wife, Julie, an accomplished painter, that he might like to try sculpting. She got him a block of clay, and he went to work. As he practiced and experimented, his confidence grew. His first sculpture was a self-portrait titled Becoming, which shows his struggle to better understand himself. Now he is fulfilling sculpture commissions for other people.

“Since we were married, we have always had the dream of being in the art business. I grew up being an artist,” says Sister Lochridge, who is a successful painter. Her father is a sculptor of bronze monuments, and other members of her family also follow artistic pursuits.

“I use pastels in a way that it looks like I’m using oils,” she says. A painting she did of herself holding her son above her head in a meadow was selected for exhibit in the Church’s Museum of Church History and Art. The painting is titled The Wondrous Power of a Mother. Her husband has completed a large statue based on his wife’s painting. “We want our art to reflect the way we feel about life, families, and gospel values,” says Sister Lochridge.

Members of the Hibbard First Ward, Rexburg Idaho North Stake, Sister Lochridge serves as a counselor in the ward Relief Society presidency and Brother Lochridge serves as a counselor in the elders quorum presidency. They are the parents of five children.