Julie Westbury

Trained as a painter at Chelsea, Julie Westbury works now with drawing, collage, constructions and photography. Amongst other recent exhibitions she has shown with the Turner Contemporary, the Crafts Council, and the Contemporary Art Society and has illustrated books for Kyle Cathie and Sotheby's. Her collages, which use her photography, found images and painting are about figures in spaces, often with reference to an artifact or painting seen in a museum. A major concern is also the repetition of images, making patterns in which the identity of the original image is lost. Originally using commercial postcards the work is now constructed from postcards made from her own photographs, which are compelling images in their own right, with strong consideration of composition of light and colour. The constructions themselves I think are unique and very beautiful. Inventive and particular choices are made. Her work is informed by a personal wide-ranging eclectic knowledge of art history, which crosses all times and civilisations, and both high and low culture. Connected to this is a great love of and familiarity with museums - again wide-ranging and open-minded, from national collections to small local and specific collections. Her understanding and appreciation of the visual world has made her an inspiring teacher. She has taught part-time at art schools throughout her career, recently at Middlesex University on the Jewellery BA and Foundation courses. (Ivy Smith 2010)