Julia Forrest is a Brooklyn based artist. She works strictly in film and prints in a travel size darkroom that she builds on location. Her own art has always been her top priority in life and in this digital world, she will continue to work with old processing. Anything can simply be done in photoshop, she prefers to take the camera, a tool traditionally used for documenting, and experiment with what she can do in front of the lens.
Julia uses mirrors, reflections, and forced perspective to create her illusionary work. She references the historical fine-art connection of the femme form with the natural landscape. The woman are seen as mythological spirits: building the landscape, destroying it, and transforming it with ease. Because the landscape is ever changing due to societies greed and global warming, Julia hopes to regain the connection to the environment that has been lost. Her work will never see completion because the landscape is in constant change. By relying on residencies to create new photographs, she is constantly seeing new environments to photograph within a creative community. She makes connections with local woman and the landscapes that are person to them.
Julia is a grant recipient of NYFA, The Jerome Foundation, and The National Endowment of the Arts. Her grants allow her to travel and show throughout the United States. Internationally she has photographed Morocco, Taiwan, Spain, Norway, Cyprus, amongst others. She is currently working as a teaching artist at the Brooklyn Museum and Lehman College. As an instructor, she thinks it is important to understand that a person can constantly stretch and push the boundaries of their ideas with whatever medium of art they choose. Her goal is for her audience to not only enjoy learning about photography, but to see the world in an entirely new way and continue to develop a future interest in the arts. Her work encourages people to savor what is around them and become aware that nothing will remain untouched unless hard work is put into place to keep it.
email: JForrest@artspaces.net
phone: 631.902.8705
Education:
2005-2009 Hartford Art School, West Hartford, CT
Bachelor of Photography
Solo Exhibitions:
2022 Transcendence, The Newhouse Gallery, Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY
2018 Illusion, PIER-2 Art Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2016 Unearth, The Earlville Opera House, Earlville, NY
2014 Illusion: New Work, The String Room Gallery, Aurora, NY
Downstreet Art, Gallery 151, NorthAdams, MA
Reflective Surfaces, Catskill Art Society, Catskill, NY
2013
Modification, Chashama 461 Gallery, New York, NY
Artist in Residence, NewHouse Gallery - Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY
Face it, Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY
2012
Horizon, Art Attack!, Traveling art truck throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan, NY
Horizon/Illusion, MIDOMA, New York, NY
Horizon, DEN l ART, Brooklyn, NY
2010
Siblings, Sparrowtree, Brooklyn, NY
Illusion, chashama gallery, New York, NY
llusion, Beehive Salon, Brooklyn, NY
Group Exhibitions:
2022 Break of Day, Edge of Night, The Painting Center, New York, NY . PENTA, CVA Gallery at Brookdale College, NJ. . Staff Exhibition, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY . New Beginning, Upstream Gallery, Hastings on Hudson, NY
2021 2021 National Juried Exhibition, First Street Gallery, New York, NY . She/Her Analogue, Blink Berlin, Berlin, Germany
All the Lights, Treat Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Emergence, BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
National Photography Competition, Fotofoto Gallery, Huntington, NY
Photowork 2021, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
Annual Small Works Show, Gallery 440, Brooklyn, NY
2020 What Is Your Reality in the Pandemic Era?, Stoodio One, Brooklyn, NY
Art as Self Reflection, JCAL’s Miller Gallery, Queens, NY
2019 Starry Night, Cathedral Arts, Jersey City, NJ
2016 Accumulating Experience, Open Doors, Newark, NJ
Where is 11 O'clock?, Gallery Affero, Newark, NJ
2015 Cartografia de la Creatividad, Museo De Arte De Sinaloa, Culiacan, Mexico
2014
Intimate Forest, Tabla Rasa Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013
Rebuild, Restore, Renew, Cathedral Arts, Jersey City, NJ
Access Art, Tabla Rasa Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Dreams Before Sleeping, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ
Roots: Drawing Connections through Community, Brooklyn Infusion Center, Brooklyn, NY
The Preview POD, Shops at 145 Front Street, Brooklyn, NY
2012
Girls, C.C.C.P. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Art from the Boros, Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY
GLAAD, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY
RAWART, LittleField, Brooklyn, NY
The Evil Eye, Queens Art Center, Queens, NY
2011
The New World, Gallery Bar, New York, NY
Intersecting Identities, The Center, New York, NY
Artist Residencies:
My work largely depends on unique landscapes for me to create illusions in. Every photograph has a connection to the location, along with the personal connection to the woman I photograph at the center of it. Since 2013 I have done two to four residencies a year. Without these institution’s dedication and funding I would not be able to produce my work.
2024 5.4.7. Artist Residency at the M.T. Liggett Art Environment, Greensburg, Kansas (June) . Annemarie Sculpture Garden Artists in Action, Solomons, Maryland (May) . P.AiR.S, Sigriswil, Switzerland (Jan-Feb) 2023 Millay Artist Residency, Austerlitz, New York (September) . . Farindola International Artist Residency, Farindola, Italy (August) . . Wildacres Artist Residency, Little Switzerland, North Carolina (May) . New York Mills Cultural Center AIR, New York Mills, MN (April) . . Catwalk Art Institute, Catskill, NY (Feb) . Kimono Arts Center, Paphos, Cyprus (January) 2022 Soaring Gardens, Laceyville, PA (October) . Peter Bullough Foundation, Winchester, VA (August-September) Rucka AIR, Cesis, Latvia (May) . . Turkey Land Cove Foundation, Edgartown, Massachusetts (January) 2021 Hortus Gardens AIR, Stone Ridge, New York (October) . Faberlull Olot, Olot, Spain, (November) . Villa Barr Art Park AIR, Novi, Michigan (August-September) . Bethany Arts AIR, Ossining, NY (Jan-Feb) 2020 Bethany Arts AIR, Ossining, NY (October) . Residency Kinono, Tinos Island, Greece (January) 2019 Bethany Arts AIR, Ossining, NY (September-October) . Soaring Gardens AIR, Laceyville, Pennsylvania (August) . Dar Slimane, Marrakesh, Morocco (June) 2018 North Mountain Residency, Hedgesville, West Virginia (September-October) . Saltonstall Artist Residency, Ithaca, New York (May-June)
PIER-2 Artist in Residence, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Jan-Feb)
2017 The Drake Art Center AIR, Kokkola, Finland (September)
Emerging Artist Program, Tofte Lake Center, Ely, MN (August)
Underground Paradise, Mexico City, Mexico (May-June)
2016 Hurleyville Makers Lab AIR, Hurleyville, NY (September-October)
Bait Al Zubair International Artist Residency, Muscat, Oman (January-Feburary)
2015 Drop, Forge, & Tool, Hudson, NY (October-December)
Catwalk Art Institute, Catskill, NY (September)
Agder Kunstsenter AIR, Kristiansand, Norway (February-March)
2014 Salem Art Works Fellowship, Salem, NY (September-October)
ARNA Bird Lab AIR, Harlosa, Sweden, (May)
2013 Snug Harbor Fellowship, Staten Island, NY (April-May)
Soaring Gardens AIR, Lacyville, PA (June)
Urban Glass Project AIR, Brooklyn, NY (October-December)
Grants:
2022 The Newhouse Gallery Exhibition Grant, Staten Island, NY 2020 Café Royal Cultural Foundation Grantee, New York, NY NYFA Tri-State Relief Fund for Workers in the Visual Arts, New York, NY
NYC AiE Arts Educator Relief Fund, New York, NY
2017 Educators Grant, The Nordic Art School, Kokkola, Finland
Emerging Art Grant, funded by the Jerome Foundation, New York, NY
2015 Cultural Rucksack Project Funds, funded by Agder Kunstsenter, Kristiansand, Norway
2014 Corning Glass Summer Workshop Scholarship, funded by Urban Glass AIR (Brooklyn), Corning, NY
2013 Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship, funded by New York Community Trust, NY
In the Collection of:
2021 Villa Bar Art Park, Novi, Michigan 2016 The Zubair Family, Muscat Oman
2015 Museo De Arte De Sinaloa, Culiacan, Mexico
Agder Kunstsenter, Kristiansand, Norway
2014 David McKee, McKee Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Hotel 718, Brooklyn, NY
Articles:
2017 Osterbottens Tidning, Creating Illusions in Photography, printed newspaper: pages 16 to 17
2016 Oman Observer: Weekender, Distant Reality in the Darkroom, pages 18-23
(http://omanobserver.om/weekendmagazines/?pn=Weekend_21-01-16.pdf)
2013 Musée Magazine, (https://drive.google.com/a/artspaces.net/file/d/0B4mpKHtXIhZ8UE9CSEtoSWRGODg/view)
Staten Island Advance, (https://drive.google.com/a/artspaces.net/file/d/0B4mpKHtXIhZ8Z0I0cDdEcVZXRDA/view)
2012 Daylight Curfew, (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4mpKHtXIhZ8U2tKWU4zZldVT00/view?usp=sharing)
Video Documentation:
2021 Villa Barr Artist in Residence Interview, Novi, Michigan . (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rqMbI3oiCkuQ06rBn4J0fiNtcR-1RXHC/view) 2016 Her Darkroom: Documentary on artistic Process, Muscat, Oman (https://vimeo.com/156568933)
Toured the following film festivals:
- Official Selection at the Sydney World Film Festival, Sydney, Australia (2016)
- Reality Check: A Selection of Short Documentaries, London, England (2016)
- Los Angeles CineFest, Los Angeles, California (2016)
2014 Minute Moment with Julia Forrest: Interview by Salem Art Works, Salem,
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMBhG-bpHfs)
Currently Working:
2010-present BROOKLYN MUSEUM, Brooklyn NY
Teaching Artist (Noe Gaytan/Education Director) 2022-present LEHMAN COLLEGE ART GALLERY, The Bronx, NY . Teaching Artist (Deborah Yasinsky, Education Director)