Julia Crozier

Julia Crozier

Artist and Gallery Owner

New Themes and Projects

One of the common comments we hear at the Blue Heron concerns the changing elements in Julia’s artworks. If you were to stop in to the studio during working hours you might see a number of projects underway from realist paintings of the Mississippi Valley or the North Dakota Prairie to Urban innerscapes. Featured above is an example of fairy and folktale paintings. Stop on by and see what is new for yourself.

Chicago

This summer I read a biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins in which the author (and Hopkins in his own writings) repeatedly referred to inscape and instress. When I finally understood the meanings of these terms I realized helpful they are in understanding  Julia’s more abstract artworks. Inscape refers to the unique sum of all of the characteristics of an object. This could include shape, form, as well as other less tangible objects such as the dormancy of a tree, the emergent life of a spring bud, or the mass of a granite stone. Instress concerns the effect the object has on the viewer–how the object in itself communicates to the viewer. Sometimes Julia’s abstract paintings are a direct reflection of  inscape and instress, such as the painting Chicago which came after a week of living in the downtown loop.

River Marsh

I decided to leave this painting in from the earlier version of the website just because it is a good example of inscape and instress in a more natural setting. One of the great things about painting is that it allows the artist to bring out these elements. While some photographers have developed a keen ability to capture inscape and instress, the creative elements of painting and drawing give complete freedom.