In your current exhibition audiences are introduced to a melodic display of colourful, buoyant curvature rising and falling through arrangements of stringed lines. How would you describe your style of work in your current exhibition? And how has it evolved over time?
My style does evolve as I find new areas of interest to explore but my method and approach in always the same. My technique is also always the same and this allows the work to remain consistent.
This body of work explored darker colour palettes and more expressive forms and line while allowing the gouache paint to behave in a more painterly manner.
I use abstracted forms and lines to move the audience around the composition and direct the eye so that the artwork is a visual journey.
Colour has been a recent joy in my work as I initially trained as a printmaker and mainly world in black and white. My approach to colour is intuitive and lately the colour combinations have been working in new more vibrant combinations.
Please describe how you approached your composition and layering for this body of work.
Composition is the core of my work. I have an initial idea which is very loose for each artwork and will sometimes draw very quick compositional roughs to refer to and help capture an idea. However the composition has a life of its own and the process of making using collage as one element allows me to add and subtract shapes and forms and to play with the composition.
I am often asked “How do you know when the work is complete?” and my answer is “When it stops worrying me visually”
I am drawn to detail and pattern and will sometimes challenge my compositional skills by deliberately making the task harder -odd formats etc -building up layers of detail to finally arrive at harmony.
You mentioned that the romantic poets influenced your decision to use clouds as a metaphor for change. Why was change an important theme for this exhibition?
During a huge time for our family of personal loss and grief and through the pandemic times this work was evolving.
The world was also experiencing massive political changes and it felt like the ground beneath us was constantly shifting.
I suppose this work was the outpouring of this time where change seemed the only constant.
Were there any specific poets and/or poems you were drawn to during the making of this exhibition?
The romantic poets were the main influences - Coleridge
Anne Bronte and P B Shelly and Keats.
I use word lists as a way of capturing and idea and as an aid to memory when I work.
I listed phrases and words from these poets which prompted visual responses.
What is the significance of your exhibition title “Atmospheric” and what does it mean to you?
The way a place or event makes me feel is really the essence of my work conceptually. Like a lot of artists I am always observing and taking in experiences emotionally responding to external influences.
There is something about the word Atmospheric that is soft and hard to define -nebulous perhaps like cloud formations seemingly solid and yet fleeting.
There is a direct reference to the sky as the atmosphere around us and the cloud and sky scapes reflect this aspect too.
Where can people see your works in 2025?
2025 will be a restorative year for me with an artist residency planned for the early part of the year in Sydney working around the Georges river area for a month.
I have just completed an extensive build of my home studio and so will be working in this space making the most of my new facility.
I compete in national competitions and art awards so keep an eye out for these.
Often after a busy year of exhibitions I will concentrate on building up the practice and search out new opportunities while making a new body of work. My explorations will be posted online @julie.bradley.art