{"title":"Julie","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg style=\"max-height: 300px; max-width:55%\" src=\"https:\/\/helloart-prod-bucket.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/artist\/julie\/julie-profile.jpg\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJulie Atkinson (b. 1977) is a visual artist living in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Her figurative art practice explores Black female identity in a way that liberates Black women from societal assumptions, reclaiming the personal from the political realm.  \r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eJulie’s work has been exhibited at various galleries and public spaces in the Bay Area.  In 2026, she was invited to exhibit as part of the Black Brilliance group art exhibition at Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco.  In 2022, her piece, Yellow, was selected for the Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois.  Julie is currently an active member of the ACCI Gallery in Berkeley, California.  She also has selected work available at The Grand Gallery in Oakland, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eARTIST’S STATEMENT\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy art explores Black female identity through abstracted, figurative paintings.  Wanting to feel accepted as one’s authentic self is a universal feeling that I understand specifically as a Black woman who has been in predominantly white spaces.  From this feeling, I am creating visual images of a woman that center her own peace and well-being.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eUsing a soft color palette and textural marks, my work invites quiet contemplation, meandering between peaceful and melancholic.  My paintings emphasize textured hair, embracing it with pride, and affirming the beauty of its volume and shape.  I play with levels of abstraction in both the body and the background to create dream-like images, using water-mixable oil paints in both their creamy and diluted states.  In presenting the woman either in a white dress or without clothes, and in obscuring portions of her face or body, my intention is to remove the markers of social class and, instead, emphasize her reconnection with herself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/helloart.com\/fr\/collections\/julie.oembed","provider":"helloart","version":"1.0","type":"link"}