“Her work bears strong echoes of potters Claire Curneen and Mo Jupp – the strengths lie in silent contemplation rather than provocation” Christina Lai
Julia studied ceramics at Harrow after following a career in film and television. She has been working in clay and bronze for some years, focusing mainly on the human form; both in the abstract and figuratively. Her more recent work reflects her parallel interest in alchemy and the study of sacred geometry.
“There are more things in heaven and earth…” Hamlet, 1.5.167-8
I am inspired by the human body in all its forms. Aesthetically I am seduced by the tactile, sensuous nature of its landscape, emotionally by the way in which it can reflect the human condition, and intellectually by its artistic possibilities as a symbolic representation of what it means to be human.
In Genesis 2:7 Adam, the first man, was formed out of the ‘adamah’, being the Hebrew word for the ground, the earth, or clay. To use clay as the medium with which to create these images of the human figure is, to me, not only instinctive, but also the most congruous way of representing the subtle nuances and delicate impressions that individualise the human figure.
Recent work reflects my parallel interest in alchemy and sacred geometry, revealed through the mediums of ceramics and video in an endeavour to make manifest the unseen world. Slip-cast and hand-built ceramics act as metaphors to embody the building blocks of the universe. These forms have been either left in their pure white form, alluding to earth in its rawness, in black suggesting the Prima Materia, raku-fired to represent the alchemical process or gold for the Philosopher’s Stone.
In tandem with this body of work are two videos. Unity represents a connectivity with the divine, spiralling from the outer ego (the outside world) into the inner soul and Elements illustrates explicitly the four elements of earth, water, fire and air and implicitly the fifth element, ether.
I work in clay, bronze, stone and charcoal drawing. I do realistic portraiture in a number of mediums as well as my own conceptual work, along with garden sculpture and installation. Painting and drawing inform and fuel my sculptural work.
Education
MFA Fine Art, Oxford Brookes University
BA (Hons) Ceramics, (University of Westminster (Harrow)
Film & Television Studies, University of Middlesex
BA (Hons) English & Economics, Oxford Brookes University
Selected Exhibitions
2024 – Palazzo Pisano-Revedin, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (forthcoming September 2024)
2024 – Society of Women Artists, The Mall Galleries, London
2024 – Greys Court, Henley -on-Thames
2024 – Leander Club, Henley-on-Thames
2024 – Rona Gallery, Oxford
2024 – Turrill Gardens, Oxford
2024 – Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham
2023 – Greys Court, Henley-on-Thames
2023 – IX Concurso de Artes Plasticas DCoop 2023, Andalusia, Spain
2021 – OVADA Warehouse, Oxford
2021 – Spetchley Park, Worcestershire
2021 – Oxford Brookes University
2019 – Oxford Art Society, Oxford
2018 – Greys Court, Henley-on-Thames
2018 – Kiftsgate Court Gardens, Gloucestershire
2018 – Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire
2017 – Greys Court, Henley-on-Thames
2017 – Kiftsgate Court Gardens, Gloucestershire
2015 – Turrill Gardens, Oxford
2014 – Mixed Media, Asthall Manor, Burford
2013 – Oxfordshire Art Weeks, Bicester
2012 – New Designers, Business Design Centre, London
2012 – Material Matters, The Rag Factory, London
2010 – Natural Selection, London Gallery West
2009 – Elemental Tales London Gallery West
Recent Portrait/Public Commissions
Sir Harold Gillies, plastic surgeon:
Peace Garden, Basingstoke (2018),
Maxillofascial Unit, Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup (2020),
Royal College of Surgeons, London (2020)
Bibliography
Ceramics: Art & Perception, issue #94. Dec 2013
Article by Christina Lai
CRAFTS – Issue no. 237, Jul/Aug 2012, pg 28-29
Article by Glenn Adamson
Collections
Medway Maritime Hospital
Sutton Courtenay Environmental Centre
Portfolio
Past Exhibitions
