Jud Hartmann was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1948. He was raised in Bedford, New York and received his B.A. from Hobart College in Geneva, New York in 1970. His artistic career has not followed a conventional route. It was not until after college that he began to sculpt. He is completely self taught, and has had no formal art training. His early sculpture was in wood, stone, and marble. He now works exclusively in bronze. While a college history major, Hartmann read about the Northeast tribes and found himself fascinated. This fascination stayed with him, and in 1983, he began what has developed into an ambitious and major life work – creating a series of bronzes of the American Northeast Indians. Lord Nelson's Gallery is one of only a handful of galleries that proudly display Jud's work.