JULIE GRAVES Artist

This book has been created to celebrate and commemorate Julie Graves and her work. It aims to give an overview of some of the themes and projects she undertook with such thought and dexterity. Julie was both talented and supremely skilled. She approached her work seriously, with sensitivity and integrity, and with the utmost care and attention. Closer inspection however, reveals that her work was also often injected with the same playfulness and sense of fun that shone through her personality.

The book accompanies Julie’s memorial exhibition Strange Combinations at Jack House Gallery. Julie took part in Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year, featured later in the book. The title comes from a statement made by curator and broadcaster Kathleen Soriano when discussing Julie’s Eastney Beach painting on the programme: “It’s a strange combination of almost David Hockney meets Salvador Dali. It’s got a surreal quality to it which is very very clever”. Julie found this extremely funny!

Julie was planning a solo show at the Jack House Gallery in 2024. She had been in conversation with gallery director Rebecca Crow, musing and laughing about the possibility of the quote being the title of the show. She really wanted to show her Eastney Beach painting in the gallery window, luring people in to expect one thing, only to be faced with something entirely different, demonstrating the breadth of Julie’s practice with characteristic warm- hearted mischief.

Throughout the book you will find texts by people who worked with and knew Julie well, alongside snippets of her own writing about her work. Any proceeds from the book will be donated to The Rowans Hospice.

Natalie Dowse

The book will consist of 80 colour pages & will feature wonderful photographs of Julie Graves and her extraordinary work by Duncan Shepherd. To order an advance copy at £20 to be collected from Jack House Gallery during the exhibition period click here. To order an advance copy at £23 to be posted click here.