Julea Boswell
Ottawa, ON, and Frenchfort, PEI
"As a dancer-turned-visual artist, I see the energy in the world around me as a mood-boosting dance that I put into paint."
MessageJulea Boswell's multifaceted career includes early days as a dance artist managing her own studio on the east coast and later teaching with the Alberta Ballet Company School. Following that, she spent over 20 years in marketing and management, including leading award-winning public engagement initiatives with the City of Ottawa and serving as general manager with Propeller Dance Company.
Julea studied dance and art, and performed in professional theater productions as a child. She has always expressed herself through visual art. Currently, she is taking a multidisciplinary approach to her practice, integrating performing and visual arts — collaborating with Propeller Dance in Ottawa and Atlantic String Machine in PEI — to create abstract expressions of diverse-ability dance and original music compositions. This innovative project is supported by the City of Ottawa. Read more about it here.
Boswell's work has been in solo and group shows and is held in collections in Canada, the US, Europe, Asia and Mexico. Her art is available at Partial Gallery (online), The Dunes Gallery (PEI), and Bistro Le Chat Bleu (NB). She holds a Dipl. in Theatre (Dance), BFA in Visual Art, and an MBA.
Boswell lives and works in Ottawa and PEI. She has also lived in Toronto, Edmonton and Berlin.
Statement
My art is sparked by movement and beauty. As a dancer-turned-visual artist, I think of my art as a mood-boosting dance that I put into paint. I am deeply influenced by the amazing natural beauty and sense of place that surrounded me growing up on a small Island, and by my involvement in visual art, dance, music and theatre from a young age. My paintings range from imaginative and colourful, stylized expressions of nature — especially water-related — to purely abstract lyrical pieces, based on dance and music-based themes. I love collaborating with performing artists as I am inspired by the interflow between dance, music and painting.
I approach each piece as a kinetic and tactile process of discovery, always moving to music while painting. I’m a fan of working on raw canvas, creating surface texture with modelling paste and using different kinds of rags—including linen, cotton, terry, muslin and paper—to apply, blend and erase colour. I’m not afraid of colour! I love to use fluorescent and metallic pigments to punctuate and add energy to my work.
"Wow! Such colour and freedom. I love your expression of movement." - solo show visitor
”The paint dances across the canvas.” - exhibitor's comment
"I’ve seen ten thousand waves on canvas in my lifetime and none are as evocative as this. Exquisite." - Facebook comment
“A breath of fresh air! Breezy. It has such a lightness and positivity that make it pretty irresistible." - Instagram follower
"Your joyful work is exactly what the world needs!" - Artwork Archive blog author
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Email: [email protected]
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