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Julie Haseler Reilly
Studio

ARTISTS STATEMENT
ARTISTS STATEMENT
All my art is an expression of my inner life.
I try to make intriguing things that please me in the hope that it will also be enjoyed by the viewer.
I am trying to achieve expressions of animation in an inanimate medium. It's a thrilling magicians trick when it happens.
I don't often start out making a totally premeditated form. I enjoy the adventure of 'drawing' with the clay and seeing what presents itself.
The initial idea or plan is always a departure point in the creative process until an expression appears in the clay (or paint) that is truthful.
I enjoy the challenge of creating art, of sculpting in ceramics and bronze, painting portraiture, landscape and
still life.
Some of my pieces are based on people or something I have observed, some are expansions on life studies and some just appear in the clay or canvas.”
'Charlotte Atkinson' 2023
bronze monument
Berrima NSW
bronze monument

Exhibitions
&
Public Works
2023-Bronze monument of Charlotte Atkinson
Berrima NSW
2022-SHAC Robertson Southern Highlands.
2019 Elemental- student exhibition Sydney Ceramics Centre Hornsby TAFE
2018 TAFE graduating students exhibition
2018 Noosa Art Prize exhibition, Regional Gallery Noosa
2014 Harbour Sculpture Exhibition, Sydney
2013 IX Florence Biennale- Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy
2012 Northbridge Art Prize-sculpture
2012 FAT and THE SHOWGIRL - exhibition, Richard Martin Art, Sydney
2011 SUMMER - mixed exhibition, Richard Martin Art, Sydney
2011 FAT - solo exhibition, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
2011 Solo exhibition - IBAH RESORT, UBUD, BALI
2011 Group exhibition - ARTSITE GALLERY, Sydney
2011 Towers Exhibition, Sculpture Society Group Show, Sydney
2009 Tom Bass Sculpture Studio - annual group exhibition, Sydney
2006 Gosford Art Prize - Gosford Regional Gallery
2005 Mixed exhibition, Jody Pawley Gallery, Drummoyne

Prizes
2022 BDAS sculpture prize
2014 Harbour Sculpture Exhibition –prize
2012 Northbridge Art Prize (sculpture)
2009 People's Choice Award at the Tom Bass Annual Exhibition for "Beatrice Bush",
(bronze sculpture of famous Balmain identity)


ABOUT JULIE
Julie has always been intrigued by story telling in any form and had a successful career as a performer, singer and writer before exploring fine arts.
She was accepted as a full time student at the National Art School N.A.S. 2011
She creates figurative and decorative works in bronze and fired clay.
She now lives and creates art in Bowral in the Southern Highlands NSW Australia.
image- 'Pope Joan'
ceramic- 50cm
TRAINING
Julie has studied with Australian sculptors, Alan Somerville, Tom Bass and Col Henry and at the National Art School. She relocated in 2011 to Bali for several years and attended the experimental studio at Gaya Ceramics in Ubud, learning sculptural techniques in clay.
"An early influence was my father who was a sculptor of sorts. He was a dental technician and prosthetist and could make anything from jewellery to boats. He would entertain me with bits of wax from his laboratory to play with and showed me how to work with plaster and power tools.
Watching him build things was an osmotic education."

INSPIRATION
My work is an expression of how I choose to see the world as much as I am wanting to project something into it.
I try to make hopeful things.
My style leans towards flamboyant and theatrical.
I passed many hours as a child, looking at elaborate figurative sculpture and ornamentation, during mass and other religious ceremonies.
The Catholic faith did not linger with me but some of the aesthetics did and the understanding that 'story' was important.
From Catholicism to theatre is not such a big jump and art was the natural next step.
.
I am a woman and an artist and therefore, intrigued and guided by The Female Gaze.
Creating a sense of animation and the illusion of an emotional state in a sculpture is important to the success of the piece.
I am trying to achieve in ceramics, some of what I can capture in the medium of bronze. Expression, animation, movement etc.
My art is influenced by my background in the performing arts and with it, a love of narrative and drama.
I use traditional sculptural methods producing works in fired clay, bronze and limestone.
My sculptures have a quality of movement and whimsy and are a meditation in animism.
I try to satisfy several ideals when working on a public monument.
1-Honouring not only the history but also the character of the person being memorialised.
2-Consideration of the relationship between landscape and the sculpture.
3-Maintaining my artistry while serving the needs of the memorial.
4- Always striving for a timeless connection with the viewer.
I enjoy working on pieces based
on female subjects with forgotten or interesting historical backgrounds. It's important that women's stories are
told and memorialised.
'Plenty'- 75cm
bronze/steel/granite
ARTISTRY
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