St Clare’s Memorial Peace Dove

St Clare’s Memorial Peace Dove

Mar 6, 2023 | PROJECTS, SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES

School memorial project working with pupils and staff to commemorate the loss of a much loved member of staff. A shimmering peace dove with forget me not flowers and heart detail created in a one-day School workshop. This was a reflective project with staff and pupils coming together to work on the mosaic side by side.  I worked with a small group at a time and rotated throughout the day until everyone had participated by laying a few tiles. Now installed on the outside of the School building for everyone to visit.

“Julie worked with staff and students at our school to create a beautiful mosaic in memory of our colleague. Julie was incredibly sensitive and understood exactly what we wanted and needed. All the students responded to her calm and gentle manner. Julie explained the technique and worked patiently with everyone. The result was absolutely stunning! The school are extremely pleased with the mosaic. I could not have chosen anyone more perfect than Julie to create this important piece of art with us”

Linda Allan, St Clare’s School, Derbyshire

Garden Wall Art

Garden Wall Art

Feb 10, 2023 | PROJECTS

Having previously bought a textured piece of interior wall art, clients came back to commission a series of bespoke exterior artworks for their garden.  The brief was to create some art that would span the length of a rendered wall (7m x 0.7m) at the bottom of their garden as a backdrop feature to the hot tub / patio decking area. 

The clients identified a piece from my ‘Living Layers’, inspired by nature collection where they liked the textures of the natural slate and muted colour palette.  After visiting their site and noting the colours of the planting in the area I presented a design of 5 abstract pieces that would flow across the wall creating a sense of movement.

Whilst each artwork is individual and unique, the colour scheme and choice of materials ties them all together as a collection.  Natural slate, beach ceramic, glass, unglazed porcelain.

Mosaic pavement features, Anstey Parish Council

Mosaic pavement features, Anstey Parish Council

Nov 19, 2020 | PROJECTS

Public art commissioned by Anstey Parish Council. A series of 3 pavement mosaics installed in Longclose park, Anstey. Taking inspiration from the park area we decided to follow the themes of an apple branch and acorn branch for 2 of the paving slabs.  The idea of a third mosaic in the design of a fox was suggested by the public during a consultation and workshop. Each slab measures 60cm x 90cm and frame the path leading through the park area.

I follow the Italian method of creating mosaic pavements where the design is made in reverse on brown paper and then transferred over to a paving slab.  This helps achieve a smooth, flat surface.

“Anstey Parish Council have commissioned four pieces of artwork from Julie. Julie was keen to visit the location, research the area and produced some stunning art works for us.  We have been very impressed with the finished products and would recommend Julie to anyone looking for the personal approach to public art”

Liz Hawkes Anstey Parish Council

Shaun The Sheep – Aardman Animations

Shaun The Sheep – Aardman Animations

Nov 11, 2020 | PROJECTS

Commissioned in 2015 by Aardman Animations for ‘Shaun in the city’, a public art trail taking place in Bristol and London, also celebrating the launch of the new movie. The design was inspired by the texture and volume of Shaun’s fleece as well as his colourful character. The fleece was covered in 16,500 glass droplets which resembled smarties and the face and legs in thousands of classic black mosaic tiles.  As everyone’s favourite smartie tends to be orange, I added a pop of vibrant orange detail. The design was sponsored by Hargreaves Lansdown and was located outside their offices in Bristol for the duration of the trail. I also got to design the masthead for the Bristol Post, a first for me!  Named ‘Dolly’, it picked up an award for ‘best fleece’ and the sculpture went onto sell at auction for £8,500.

https://www.itv.com/news/central/2015-07-13/nottinghamshire-artist-creates-gromit-sculpture-for-charity

Private Commissions

Private Commissions

Nov 9, 2020 | PROJECTS

I work on a variety of private commissions from personalised gifts through to wall art, house numbers and paving features.  Here are a few recent commissions. Simply get in touch with your ideas and I’ll talk you through the process.

“we commissioned Julie to make an abstract mosaic for a dark spot at the end of our garden, we discussed dimensions, designs and colours and she consulted me regularly with updates of work in progress. I am delighted with the end result which is now installed and admired” Sue Dymore