Abstract Water Reflections: Pond Light, 2024
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Red Rocks as seen in Mindy Kaling's home, Architectural Digest
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ARTIST STATEMENT
Situated between abstraction and realism, like a work of fiction, my paintings are visual representations of my memories of both real and imagined places. I paint both ordinary moments and extraordinary moments - from color saturated skies to muted ripples of water. The poet Mary Oliver begs us to: “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” And this is what I do.
The world is a devastating, ruthless place in many ways. I want my art to act as an antidote. What if all I am doing is bringing back that feeling of wonder and freedom we all felt as kids interacting with nature? I remember lying on my back on the grass, looking up at trees or out into wildflower fields. I remember staring out over the abyss of the ocean as the sun rose or set across the horizon, watching the water and the sky meld together. I remember being bored at times, and also amazed at times. Bored and hot and lost in thought in summer as flies skipped across a pond. Time would slow down, and yet at the end of the day I wondered what had happened to all of that time. And I suddenly realize that there is nothing more wonderful or calming than watching the natural world around me sing, dance and occasionally, remain still.
My art is a walk in the woods, a pause in the chaos. A refuge. In my paintings, the landscape is an entryway to something hopeful, simple and sacred. Anxiety and depression are on the rise, people are lonely, people are unhappy. I want my art to connect people to one another, to their childhoods, to the present. I want it to soothe and to heal. I want my viewers to feel unburdened, if only for a brief moment. And with each of these little moments, perhaps they will remember what it was like to be a child on a hot summer day when one had nothing to do but dip one's toes in the water and watch the breeze lazily wave through the leaves. That’s my hope.
I dream of my work entering collections of institutions that are accessible to diverse audiences—especially those audiences who might not typically engage with contemporary art. My artistic practice seeks to create points of connection for individuals who may feel excluded from traditional art spaces.
The world is a devastating, ruthless place in many ways. I want my art to act as an antidote. What if all I am doing is bringing back that feeling of wonder and freedom we all felt as kids interacting with nature? I remember lying on my back on the grass, looking up at trees or out into wildflower fields. I remember staring out over the abyss of the ocean as the sun rose or set across the horizon, watching the water and the sky meld together. I remember being bored at times, and also amazed at times. Bored and hot and lost in thought in summer as flies skipped across a pond. Time would slow down, and yet at the end of the day I wondered what had happened to all of that time. And I suddenly realize that there is nothing more wonderful or calming than watching the natural world around me sing, dance and occasionally, remain still.
My art is a walk in the woods, a pause in the chaos. A refuge. In my paintings, the landscape is an entryway to something hopeful, simple and sacred. Anxiety and depression are on the rise, people are lonely, people are unhappy. I want my art to connect people to one another, to their childhoods, to the present. I want it to soothe and to heal. I want my viewers to feel unburdened, if only for a brief moment. And with each of these little moments, perhaps they will remember what it was like to be a child on a hot summer day when one had nothing to do but dip one's toes in the water and watch the breeze lazily wave through the leaves. That’s my hope.
I dream of my work entering collections of institutions that are accessible to diverse audiences—especially those audiences who might not typically engage with contemporary art. My artistic practice seeks to create points of connection for individuals who may feel excluded from traditional art spaces.
ARTIST BIO
Julia S. Powell (b. in Boston, MA, and lives and works in Cambridge, MA and Gouldsboro, ME) paints landscapes that navigate the intersection between realism and abstraction. Powell's multi-layered oil paintings employ a technique where the accumulated strata of pigment reveals a dialogue between materiality and memory. Successive applications of paint preserve earlier artistic decisions forming rich textural surfaces. Her paintings serve as visual sanctuaries to hold life's complexities, and invite viewers to reconnect with the moments of wonder and freedom experienced in childhood encounters with nature. Powell transforms natural elements—light through trees, water reflections, horizon lines—into thoughtful responses to contemporary anxiety and depression. Through color and composition, work offers beauty, tranquility and healing, providing viewers a space for pause and reflection within an increasingly chaotic world.
Powell is a member of the Quin House Boston and the Copley Society of Art (Co|So)—the oldest non-profit art association in the United States. Her artwork is collected by Mindy Kaling and was featured on The Mindy Project (formerly on Fox and Hulu). Powell’s paintings may also be found in numerous private collections across the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Her paintings have been sold at auction at the New Britain Museum of American Art and the Peabody Essex Museum. She was chosen as the VIP print artist for the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston 2017 Summer Gala. In 2016, Julia’s painting Birch Series 6 was accepted into the juried MFA Boston Summer Auction Show and remains the highest-selling and most bid-on painting in the history of the Auction. She was chosen to paint at the MFA Boston in conjunction with the Monet show but due to Covid-19, the partnership was postponed. Powell has been profiled in Boston Magazine, Artsy Magazine, the Boston Globe, the Boston Globe Magazine, American Scholar, MiA Magazine, and Exhale Magazine. Her paintings were also featured in Marie Claire, Boston Home, Architectural Digest and Yankee Magazine.
Previously, she was represented by Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Boston, MA, Star Gallery in Northeast Harbor, ME, and Adelman Gallery in San Diego, CA. Powell graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and received her JD from Stanford University.
Commissions: If you especially love a piece that has been sold, or you have a painting idea in mind, please contact Julia about the subject matter and color range that spark your interest and she can create a new painting just for you.
A portion of the profits from the sale of each piece go to benefit the National Resources Defense Fund, an organization that works to safeguard the earth, its people, its plants, and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.
Powell is a member of the Quin House Boston and the Copley Society of Art (Co|So)—the oldest non-profit art association in the United States. Her artwork is collected by Mindy Kaling and was featured on The Mindy Project (formerly on Fox and Hulu). Powell’s paintings may also be found in numerous private collections across the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Her paintings have been sold at auction at the New Britain Museum of American Art and the Peabody Essex Museum. She was chosen as the VIP print artist for the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston 2017 Summer Gala. In 2016, Julia’s painting Birch Series 6 was accepted into the juried MFA Boston Summer Auction Show and remains the highest-selling and most bid-on painting in the history of the Auction. She was chosen to paint at the MFA Boston in conjunction with the Monet show but due to Covid-19, the partnership was postponed. Powell has been profiled in Boston Magazine, Artsy Magazine, the Boston Globe, the Boston Globe Magazine, American Scholar, MiA Magazine, and Exhale Magazine. Her paintings were also featured in Marie Claire, Boston Home, Architectural Digest and Yankee Magazine.
Previously, she was represented by Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Boston, MA, Star Gallery in Northeast Harbor, ME, and Adelman Gallery in San Diego, CA. Powell graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and received her JD from Stanford University.
Commissions: If you especially love a piece that has been sold, or you have a painting idea in mind, please contact Julia about the subject matter and color range that spark your interest and she can create a new painting just for you.
A portion of the profits from the sale of each piece go to benefit the National Resources Defense Fund, an organization that works to safeguard the earth, its people, its plants, and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.
Two Masted Sailboats, as seen on "The Mindy Project", Prints Available