Arts Council England Award

Early this year I received an award from Arts Council England for a period of research and development in my practice. This is an update on my project.

Over the last few months, I have focused upon exploring two issues: mark-making and scale. Below are four of the images from my 'Rewind' series of paintings that have resulted from this investigation. These paintings are each 55 x 55cm. Acrylic on unprimed canvas.

Having now completed a further series of new paintings, I am currently working on a triptych of acrylic on polyester. Everything is going to plan with my project and I look forward to sharing it with you at an exhibition space when it is complete. I look forward to having your feedback.

 Rewind (red), 2015
© Julie Umerle

Rewind II (red), 2015
© Julie Umerle

Rewind III (red), 2015
© Julie Umerle

Rewind IV (red), 2015
© Julie Umerle

DACS Foundation Auction

This September, I will be one of a number of artists supporting DACS Foundation, a new charity set up by DACS to support contemporary visual art in the UK. I'm delighted to donate one of my paintings for their forthcoming benefit auction at Paddle8. Bids can be placed online until 9.30pm, Thursday 24 September 2015. The proceeds will importantly go towards funding a range of new initiatives supporting artists in legacy planning and archive management, education and a public programme supporting the continued appreciation of art and its value to society.

Fifty-six artists including Susan Hiller, Ryan Gander and Yinka Shonibare MBE are donating artwork to raise funds for the Foundation's initiatives through the online auction.

Furthermore, seven works will be auctioned by Christie's on 23 September 2015 including artists Richard Wentworth, Billy Childish, Angela de la Cruz, Tracey Emin and Chantal Joffe. The majority of the works (including my painting) will be auctioned on Paddle8 from 10 - 24 September 2015.

All the works will be exhibited in an end of auction party on the evening of 24 September 2015 at Londonewcastle Project Space in Shoreditch, London. A catalogue is published to accompany the auction.

View my work on Paddle8. I am donating Broken Symmetry III. You can make bids online: https://paddle8.com/work/julie-umerle/78360-broken-symmetry-iii should you wish to support the Foundation. Thank you.

© Julie Umerle

Contemporary British Watercolours

Very pleased to be part of this exhibition, Contemporary British Watercolours, which opens at Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery on 19 September 2015 and is on show until 8 November 2015. 

The exhibition travels to The Oriel Gallery, County Antrim, Northern Ireland from 24 November 2015 - 22 January 2016, then on to Abbey Walk Gallery, Grimsby in 2016.

Contemporary British Watercolours is curated by Simon Carter. The exhibition charts contemporary activity and demonstrates how changing attitudes to painting in the 21st century have influenced the use of watercolour, showing three original works from each of twenty-one contemporary artists who use watercolour as part of their practice.

Exhibiting Artists:  David Ainley, Lucy Austin, Claudia Bose, Julian Brown, Simon Carter, Louise Cattrell, Roy Cleary, Andrew Crane, James Faure Walker, Susie Hamilton, Marguerite Horner, Barbara Howey, Mark Jay, Kelly Jayne, Matthew Krishanu, Hannah Maybank, James Quin, Melanie Russell, Julie Umerle, Jacqueline Utley and Steven Walker.

Catalogue Available.

Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery is located at St Faith's Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1LH.

Free Entry. Opening times: Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm.

Website: www.museum.maidstone.gov.uk

Phone: 01622 602838

Email: museuminfo@maidstone.gov.uk

'ART/Converters!' 2015

'Art Converters' 2015 kicks off at studio1.1 in London from 2 April - 26 April 2015 (closed Friday 3 April).

A fundraiser group show to support the gallery, all artists work will be available at just £200 per piece.

Artists include:

ALEXANDER BUHLER, ALICE PEILLON, ANDREW GRAVES, ANDREW SETO, BENJAMIN DEAKIN, BRIDGET JACKSON, CHARLES WILLIAMS, CHRISTOPHER BOND, CLAUDIA BOESE, DAVID SMALL,  JOSHUA RAFFELL, JULIE UMERLE, KARL BIELIK, KATE LYDDON,  LUCIA VERA, LUCINDA OESTREICHER, MANDY WILLIAMS, MANUELA VIEZZER, MARCUS COPE, MARIANNE MORILD, MICHAEL BARTLETT, MICHAELA ZIMMER, MARTIN GAYFORD, MICHAEL HAMMOND, NATASHA KAHN, NATHAN EASTWOOD, OONA GRIMES, PETER SYLVEIRE, RACHELLE ALLEN SHERWOOD, RALPH DOREY, KERAN JAMES, REBECCA MEANLEY, RICHARD BATEMAN, ROBERT CERVERA, ROBIN SEIR, ROSS WALKER, ROXY TOPIA & PADDY GOULD, RUTH CALLAND, RUTH PHILO, SACHA MEADEN, SARAH KNILL-JONES, SARAH McNULTY, STEPHANIE MORAN, STEPHEN BUCKERIDGE, STUART BARNES, WILLIAM STEIN

studio1.1 is at 57a Redchurch Street, London E2 7DJ
Website: www.studio1-1.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7952 986 696.
Open: Wednesday - Sunday, 12 noon to 6pm.
Email: studio1-1.gallery@virgin.net

Arts Council England Award

In January this year, I won a Grants for the Arts Award from Arts Council England.

I am delighted to receive this award: it is a rare achievement, especially for a painter. Such grants are extremely competitive in the current economic climate with the recent cuts to the Art Council's budget. The award will make a huge difference to my practice in 2015 and what I am able to achieve, as well as giving me great self confidence in my work. Thanks go out to all my friends and colleagues for your good wishes and congratulations.

This award is for professional development and will fund a period of research and development within my practice, enabling me to create new paintings. I have already made a detailed plan as to how I intend to develop my work and have outlined a budget of materials and a timeline to pursue. 2015 is going to be an extremely productive year where I will be able to paint under optimum conditions.

Now it is all about achieving results and making the most of the support I have been given at this time. I will keep you posted as my project develops.

'Present Tense' at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery

Here are three installation views from the exhibition 'Present Tense' at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery that I am currently participating in, showing contemporary painting and photography from Swindon's permanent collection. The exhibition has just opened.

My painting 'Drift' (2013, 54 x 60in, acrylic on canvas) is hung beside Steven Pippin's Turner Prize nominated 'Walking Naked' (Laundromat Locomotion) series of works. Pippin's sequence of photographs was presented to Swindon by the Art Fund. It consists of 12 circular black and white photographs representing the passage of a person from left to right across the line of vision of a row of 12 cameras - ie photographs from inside a washing machine.

The exhibition runs from 14 January 2015 - 18 April 2015. Please do try to see the show if you can. Lots of good work!

.

First exhibition of 2015

Drift. 2013. 54 x 60 in. © Julie Umerle

Getting the New Year off to a fine start! I'll be exhibiting one of my paintings, Drift, in the exhibition 'Present Tense' at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery from 14 January - 18 April 2015. It will be the first time this painting has been displayed in a gallery.

'Present Tense' showcases contemporary painting and photography featuring more than 40 works from the Swindon collection including works by Lisa Milroy, Magnus Quaife, Steven Pippin, Maggi Hambling, Tony Bevan, Eileen Cooper and Julie Umerle among others. The exhibition challenges the idea that contemporary art is elitist or incomprehensible. Starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall and looking at history and society, the exhibition investigates the way artists continue to react to the world around them and create new realities.

Through painting and photography, the exhibition will examine how everyday life, place, memory and repetition influence contemporary British art.

The exhibition showcases painting and photography produced since 1990s and in the collection of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.

                                                                                         

                                                                                   

Swindon Museum and Art Gallery
Bath Road
Old Town Road
Swindon
SN1 4BA

Tel: 01793 466556

The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday 11.00am - 3.00 pm.