Julie Allan
Originally from Glasgow I grew up in South London and from a young age was taken to art galleries and museums by my mother who instilled in me a passion for painting. Not content with just viewing art I turned my teenage bedroom into an art studio, the walls were literally covered in paint. Following a foundation degree `I studied Fine art at Brighton University, graduating in the early 9Os. I later obtained an MA in art psychotherapy and I have worked.as an art psychotherapist in the NHS and prison service for over twenty years. My dual practices, as an artist and psychotherapist, inform one another: both reflect a passion for using art as a way of giving form to what is unformulated, expressing things that may feel impossible to put into words.
`I have a studio in my home in Sussex and having taken some time out to focus on raising my daughter and establishing my psychotherapy career I am now able to dedicate myself to my painting again. I work on canvas and build up each painting layer by layer, using oil paint, pencil drawing and stitching as well as more industrial materials such as plaster, bitumen and concrete. I don’t set out with any fixed idea about what a finished painting will look like. The marks and forms emerge during the process of painting. Each piece has its own mood, energy and atmosphere. By tuning into the feeling of the painting, she lets the painting develop over a period of time.
My subject matter is related to mortality, sexuality and the vulnerability of the human body. Although my work has a human presence, the forms I use are not human forms as such. They relate to the body rather than representing it directly. The forms are fragile or tough, are blurred or have edges, are separate or merged. Each painting establishes its own identity.
Education and qualifications
1993-1994
University of Hertfordshire – MA Art Psychotherapy
1992-1993
University of London, Goldsmiths–Arts Psychotherapy Foundation Diploma
1987-1990
University of Brighton -BA (Hons) in Fine Art
1986-1987
Ravensbourne college of Art – Foundation Diploma (Fine Art)
Group exhibitions
2021
April, Affordable Art Fair – Online
March, Absent Gallery Spring Open – Online exhibition.
Feb Frickleton fine art , Control Tower Gallery, Kingshill, Maidstone Kent
2020
Shifting Boundaries, Online exhibition curated by Celina Loh
In My House – Abigail Miller Studios
Small Wonders – Kellie Miller Gallery Brighton
2018-2019
Hospital Rooms Auction – Elephant West, London
Elementree studios group show– Brighton Fringe Festival
2016-2017
Woodside, Hailsham Arts Festival- Curator
Oxmarket Open Chichester
Out of the Box- Woodside, Hailsham Arts Festival- Curator