2024 "FOCUS ON YOUTH":
FEATURED EMERGING ARTIST
Multimedia Visual Artist:
Juliana Woods
Juliana Woods Poses with her Piece "Sweetest Fruit" (See full work below.)
Photo Courtesy: Juliana Woods
Photo Courtesy: Juliana Woods
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Juliana Woods is a multimedia visual artist based in the Hudson Valley Region of New York. Her work has been shown in multiple international juried exhibitions and has been awarded on the national level. Most recently, her work was featured in the Field Projects Gallery online exhibition, Traces, the Trolley Barn Gallery’s PKX Festival, and The Art Effect’s Senior Project exhibition at the Convey/er/or Gallery in Poughkeepsie, New York. Her work is mainly inspired by the concept of the human condition — the ways we exist together within the social and cultural confines that shape our reality. Her two most recent bodies of work titled “Lives of Strangers” and “Truth and Time” explore the unspoken yet deeply connected relationships between all people and the inevitable distortion of memory through our own perception of what is real. She is primarily a painter, but has also worked in printmaking, drawing, sculpture, fiber arts, and design. She will be attending The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City this fall, and she looks forward to continuing to explore these methods of artmaking and expanding on her growing practice. |
Proud Sponsor of 2024 FOCUS ON YOUTH:
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"It's the dew of sweat, cool veins below the surface as well as every dimple, wrinkle or scar; it all comes together in perfect harmony. A face can tell a story, and it's amazing how much you can know just by studying these little details." ~ Juliana Woods |
Juliana discusses color, the human face, and her journey with various mediums as she creates her unique style as a young artist.
Have you always loved to draw and paint? Have you explored other fine art mediums?
Creating art is a lifelong passion of mine, and some of my earliest memories are with a paintbrush in hand. Today, I would definitely consider myself a painter, but I also enjoy mixed media and working outside of my usual comfort zone. I’ve done multiple pieces that combine painting with sculpture, printmaking or textiles, and I have recently started experimenting in video and digital media. I’m open to anything, really. I’m still trying to understand myself as both an artist and a person, and I feel that my work is a reflection of that. As of now, I don’t like to stay in the same place too long creatively. I’m in a period of artistic growth, and I want to embrace that wholeheartedly.
Have you always loved to draw and paint? Have you explored other fine art mediums?
Creating art is a lifelong passion of mine, and some of my earliest memories are with a paintbrush in hand. Today, I would definitely consider myself a painter, but I also enjoy mixed media and working outside of my usual comfort zone. I’ve done multiple pieces that combine painting with sculpture, printmaking or textiles, and I have recently started experimenting in video and digital media. I’m open to anything, really. I’m still trying to understand myself as both an artist and a person, and I feel that my work is a reflection of that. As of now, I don’t like to stay in the same place too long creatively. I’m in a period of artistic growth, and I want to embrace that wholeheartedly.
Buy 1 Get 1 Free
Acrylic on Canvas ~ 23 x 39 inches
© Juliana Woods
Acrylic on Canvas ~ 23 x 39 inches
© Juliana Woods
How would you describe your style?
I would generally describe my style as vibrant, acrylic portraiture, but I’m also still trying to figure that out. The bright red underpainting that I use most often has definitely become an important part of my style of painting, along with the other saturated colors that I tend to gravitate towards. Beyond just color, I think texture is essential to my work. I attempt to convey a sense of movement in a lot of my paintings. I’m drawn to the look of intentional, visible brushstrokes and rich layering. I’ve also started placing my figures in more unreal environments, overlaying other images and patterns to create the space of the painting.
I would generally describe my style as vibrant, acrylic portraiture, but I’m also still trying to figure that out. The bright red underpainting that I use most often has definitely become an important part of my style of painting, along with the other saturated colors that I tend to gravitate towards. Beyond just color, I think texture is essential to my work. I attempt to convey a sense of movement in a lot of my paintings. I’m drawn to the look of intentional, visible brushstrokes and rich layering. I’ve also started placing my figures in more unreal environments, overlaying other images and patterns to create the space of the painting.
Reunion
Acrylic on Canvas ~ 18 x 32 inches © Juliana Woods |
Performance Act
Acrylic on Board & Linocut Print ~ 17 x 31 inches © Juliana Woods |
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Your work explores a vibrant color palette. Have you created series in a single color or black and white?
In addition to fine/traditional art, I have a deep love for zines and DIY publication, and the first zine I ever made myself was entirely in black and white. It was mainly to make the process of photocopying and printing easier once the project itself was complete, but it was an interesting challenge for me to work with. I’m so used to relying on color as an important part of my work and a key identifier of my developing style, that creating those pieces really pushed me to better understand who I am as an artist beyond just color. I would be open to working on something like that again, maybe a second issue in the future. Your piece "Teddy" has beautiful layers/dimension. What was the inspiration behind this one?
It was most heavily influenced by my personal life at that time. Late last year, just past my eighteenth birthday and with my high school graduation on the horizon, I was grappling with the idea of the end of my childhood. Despite my status as a legal adult, I felt like a helpless toddler more than anything else. ‘Teddy’ leans into these feelings; it acknowledges the difficulty of leaving behind comforting childhood memories in the face of a more independent uncertainty. I wanted to create a sort of dreamlike space with this piece, where the line between memory and reality seems blurred, and the viewer feels almost confronted by the figure’s gaze. This piece was an important stepping stone for me, and I think those themes will remain relevant in my life for a while. |
Teddy
Acrylic on Canvas ~ 20 x 19 inches © Juliana Woods |
The varied expressions, mood, and physical appearance in the portrait montage "Who's This?" seem to tell a complicated story. Please explain.
‘Who’s This?’ depicts the fragmented self. These images are assembled to form the idea of a person, rather than a single, secure identity; they are the faces that are tried on and discarded in an attempt to achieve understanding. Between the gaps of the portraits and on the edges are mirrors, reflecting the viewer’s image back to them, forcing them to examine their own sense of self. As part of my series Lives of Strangers, this piece largely explores what it means to become your own stranger and what constitutes ‘self’ — who we are now, who we will become, and who we think we are, the seen and unseen pieces of what makes us undoubtedly human.
‘Who’s This?’ depicts the fragmented self. These images are assembled to form the idea of a person, rather than a single, secure identity; they are the faces that are tried on and discarded in an attempt to achieve understanding. Between the gaps of the portraits and on the edges are mirrors, reflecting the viewer’s image back to them, forcing them to examine their own sense of self. As part of my series Lives of Strangers, this piece largely explores what it means to become your own stranger and what constitutes ‘self’ — who we are now, who we will become, and who we think we are, the seen and unseen pieces of what makes us undoubtedly human.
Who's This?
Acrylic on Canvas, Mirrors & Yarn ~ 33 x 31 inches
© Juliana Woods
Acrylic on Canvas, Mirrors & Yarn ~ 33 x 31 inches
© Juliana Woods
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What do you find most captivating about the human face? I wouldn’t say that there’s one specific feature I’m most drawn to, but the physical contours and texture are fascinating to me. It's the way that light hits the flesh, bouncing off and around the concave and convex qualities of the skin that grabs my attention. There’s a rich, almost luminescent, quality to it that I think is a great challenge to capture with paint. It's the dew of sweat, cool veins below the surface as well as every dimple, wrinkle or scar; it all comes together in perfect harmony. A face can tell a story, and it's amazing how much you can know just by studying these little details. Is there a special mentor or teacher you'd like to mention — someone who helped you gain confidence in your work. There’s honestly so many. I owe everything to all the amazing teachers I’ve been lucky enough to learn from throughout the years, and I truly don’t know where I would be without them. At the end of my freshman year of high school, I began taking classes at The Art Effect, and it was there that I met and studied under Rick Price. He became such an important mentor to me and encouraged my work in a way I hadn’t really experienced before. It was through those classes that I feel I was able to mature as an artist. I started to take myself more seriously and began to understand the work I was creating on a new level. Everyone at The Art Effect has been so incredibly supportive of me since then, and I am deeply grateful. |
Sweetest Fruit
Acrylic on Canvas ~ 50 x 32 inches © Juliana Woods |
A Spill
Acrylic on Board & Collage ~ 47 x 47 inches
© Juliana Woods
Acrylic on Board & Collage ~ 47 x 47 inches
© Juliana Woods
Please name a woman artist whose work you particularly admire (past or present). What attracts you to her work?
It’s hard for me to pick just one, but Amy Dury [a U.K.-based painter] is absolutely one of my favorite painters working today. Her use of color has heavily inspired my own love for it, and her ability to physically manipulate the quality of paint in her pieces is incredible. Her subject matter is often simple, but the way she chooses to depict these scenes is what makes her work so unique. She is able to capture an indescribable sense of nostalgia in such an accurate way, and her ability to convey a universal familiarity really speaks to me.
It’s hard for me to pick just one, but Amy Dury [a U.K.-based painter] is absolutely one of my favorite painters working today. Her use of color has heavily inspired my own love for it, and her ability to physically manipulate the quality of paint in her pieces is incredible. Her subject matter is often simple, but the way she chooses to depict these scenes is what makes her work so unique. She is able to capture an indescribable sense of nostalgia in such an accurate way, and her ability to convey a universal familiarity really speaks to me.
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Can We Stay the Same?
Acrylic on Canvas ~ 25 x 35 inches © Juliana Woods |
