20th February 2025

Julia Wright Landscape surfaces 

Julia is based in Manchester and works in mixed media and jewellery, which has led her to create detailed small scale pieces. 

She has a family background which includes art, textiles and creative work.She initially undertook an Art foundation course where she discovered she was a maker rather than a painter which led her to a degree working with all materials and techniques. After this Julia worked in an Art gallery where she learned what was required to exhibit work and how to work with galleries. She also gained a teaching qualification, initially teaching adults, then high school art and 6th form A level textilesand Art foundation where she encourages students to explore ideas, experiment and play to see what works.

Julia draws a lot, she collects natural objects eg fir cones, stones, fossils, observes cracks in pavements, tree roots, fungi, rock strata, landscapes, sea shore, barnacles, waves etc, where ever she goes she takes with her small concertina sketchbooks to fill with her observational drawing. She gathers shapes, patterns, textures, structural shapes and then combines these with imagination to create loosely themed work.

Julia uses fabric manipulation, crochet, knitting, macrame, embroidery, working with natural fibres, recycled items,plastic, metal eg rings,wire, dying fabrics and threads herself to obtain the neutral/earthy/rust/natural colour palette required.

When knitting Julia uses needles of different size and will knit creatively to distort the surfaces. She will then crochet or weave into this also adding 'wraps' (fabric wrapped round with threads)and stitched'blobs' . 

 

Embroidery is used as a mark making tool to add colour/detail/texture, Julia has been inspired by the Japanese 'Boro' mending techniques comprising dots, dashes and linear marks.

Roots 2017 explored ideas of growth and decay

Coastal inspiration 2020 - coral structures, using multiple layers, worked in white and hand stitched.

 

 

 

 

 

Circles indicate continuity, use hand dyed muslin, threads, yarns, wrapped pieces and holes. Holes are created by pulling fabric to separate strands, she then stitches these, using small firm stitches, to form and hold the circles and holes.

 

 

Orange bark was inspired by Australia with its red earth/landscapes, Julia hand dyed cotton, linen, muslin, silk, including copper wire, paper and rubber.

Yorkshire dales landscapes

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Ives Cornwall series - undertook one per day during holiday, used neutral colour to focus on texture, pieces feature barnacles, bubbles left by waves etc.