Julie Alpert

2012 Off to a great start!

2012-01-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

I am honored and excited to announce that I was awarded a 2012 Pollock-Krasner Grant which will allow me to focus full-time on my art practice and developing a new body of work. I will be teaching part-time at Gage Academy of Art through the teen programming. Otherwise look for me in my studio! Needless to say I will have more time to be vigilant with my blog and news updates. Here's to a productive and happy new year!

Interview conducted by Amanda Manitach

2011-01-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

Amanda, the curator at The Living Room, conducted this interview with me about my art practice and current show Motivation Graph. Enjoy!

Motivation Graph Opening

2010-12-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

Thursday, Jan 13, 2010 at The Living Room Bar (intersection of Olive and Melrose on Capitol Hill.) Come see the results of my painting a day attempt.

Julie Alpert/Backyards - Opening Reception Tonight

2010-11-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

Please join me for the opening reception of Backyards, a series of new watercolors based on walks through Seattle alleys. Tonight from 6-8pm at SOIL Gallery 112 3rd Ave Seattle WA.

Backyards

2010-10-19T14:20:00.001-07:00

Two images from my upcoming watercolor show in SOIL's Backspace. I am exploring and re-interpretting the things I found in people's backyards.

Show opens First Thursday, November 2nd at SOIL.

5 x 5 Video Tour

2010-04-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a video tour of my newest installation at Grey Gallery for the 5 x 5 exhibition. It is called Monster Teeth, Elephant Toes with Power Pack, or Bad Stage Make-Up , all free-associated reactions to the piece by myself and my "intern" Pam. (She helped cut, paint, and generally entertain during installtion.)

5X5 Preparations

2010-03-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday has been a full day of cutting, painting, sketching, and list-making. I will be filling an 18foot x 14foot x 11foot high corner in one week. This yet-to-be-titled piece is part of the 5x5 juried exhbition at Grey Gallery opening April 8th. I was selected by NY artist Ford Crull from 88 entries as one of 5 representatives of emerging Northwest art. I am honored and excited to start installing. I will be incorporating illuminated hand-carved box sculptures, contact paper, paint, and masonite to name a few things.

SAM Gallery Window Installation

2010-03-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Come to the SAM Gallery Introductions opening tomorrow, Thursday March 18th from 5-8pm at 3rd and University. Along with the window I have 3 works on paper (which I paid an arm and a leg to frame). Other artists include friends Joey Veltkamp, Kim Trowbridge, and Emily Pothast. I sort of hope that lime green cab is still there tomorrow evening...

Drum of the Draw this Saturday

2010-02-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

"Drum of the Draw"
Saturday, 2/27/10 5-9pm
Grey Gallery and Lounge
1512 11th Ave, Seattle WA 98122

This is a bi-monthly event curated by Robert Hardgrave. $20-$200 art for sale by artists working live on-site. Grey Gallery and Lounge is the new official home of this exciting event!

Artists participating this month:

Julie Alpert
Joel Aaron Astley
Diane Culhane
Brian Cypher
Patricia Hagen
Robert Hardgrave
Joseph Keppler
Rachel Maxi
Michael McGovern
Daniel Mitchell

Bru Tube Tonight!

2010-02-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

Bru Tube Tonight at 7pm at the Kirkland Arts Center

"All's Fair in Love and War"
an evening of curated Youtube videos + beer

Presenters:

Julie Alpert (Artist)
Sharon Arnold (Artist)
Matthew Browning (Artist)
Shaun Kardinal (Artist, Musician)
Joshua Lindenmayer (Artist, Curator)
Jessica Powers (Curator)
Susan Robb (Artist)

Untangledtown at SOIL Gallery through Jan 30th

2010-01-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

Review by Molly Norris of my newest installation at SOIL.

Round & Round

2009-12-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

Round & Round 2009 stop-motion animation with Andy Arkley

Creation of this work was made possible in part by an Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects (GAP). Find out more at www.artisttrust.org

Kirkland Arts Center Holiday Auction

2009-12-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

This Friday is the Kirkland Arts Center REDUX Benefit Party. So much going on:

1. My collaborative animation with Andy Arkley will be exhibited along with a handful of other installations by friends and colleagues. It is a 3 min loop of about 15 2-3 second animations with sound using found objects, felt, cut-paper, handmade drawings, and rotoscoping. Will post the video after it's debut this weekend.

2. My piece "Electrical Box Graffiti in 3 Parts" has been selected by jurors Greg Kucera, Scott Lawrimore, and Beth Sellars as one of five nominated for a $1000 prize. The piece will be part of the live auction, winner announced Friday.

3. Cable Griffith created a great little blog of the participating artists.

This will be a really exciting event, so those of you who can swing it should purchase a ticket and attend!

Electrical Box Graffiti in 3 Parts

2009-11-02T10:27:00.001-08:00

Electrical Box Graffiti in 3 Parts

2009 12"x28" watercolor on paper

Watercolor series (to be donated to the Kirkland Arts Center Holiday Redux Auction) based on a spot on Capitol Hill. Each rendering is an attempt to capture and exploit a different part of the scene or a different time of day. Though similar, each image includes different aspects of the site.

Lander Studio collage

2009-10-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

Lander Studio 2008 collage on paper 14"x16"

Here's the piece I'm donating to the SOIL Auction.

SOIL Auction - Sandwich Board Alteration

2009-09-28T17:47:00.001-07:00

For the upcoming SOIL Auction we decided to slice up the old sandwich board, distribute it among members, alter it, and auction it off. This was my contribution. Come see (and bid on!) this and the other 19. Annual SOIL Auction: Oct 16th, 6pm $10.

Animation of Land(e)scape Installation

2009-09-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

photo credit: sam storey

During the de-install of my untitled sitespecifc work at SOIL, I set up a camera and took time lapse photos that I am in the process of turning into an animation. This was the finished installation. In the animation the elements either appear to disappear or walk-off the set.

SOIL installation near completion

2009-08-02T19:40:00.001-07:00

Some shots of the installation after about 5 billion hours of cutting, taping, collaging, and painting. I've got a few things I need to do to wrap it up, but it feels good to have the bulk of it done. Andy, Cable, and I all worked in the hot hot sun today hanging the work and lighting the gallery. It's a handsome looking show, if I don't mind saying so.

SOIL Install Preparations

2009-07-29T20:56:00.001-07:00

Two elements that will be integrated into a site specific installation at SOIL:

Cardboard forest

and cascading paper scales (various sizes, cut from modified security envelope patterns from envelopes salvaged at work). You can also expect papier mache, paint, astroturf, and of course, hot pink duct tape.

Show opens next Thursday, August 6th, 6-8pm at SOIL

Inter-Departmental Mail

2009-07-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

Inter-Departmental Mail

2009 collage on paper

42x60in

Inter-Departmental Mail

2009-07-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

Inter-Departmental Mail

2009 collage on paper 42x60 inches

Large (in-progress) collage I've been working on for the upcoming SOIL show. Made mostly from salvaged envelopes I collected at work.

GAP Grant

2009-06-03T14:35:00.000-07:00

I was recently awarded a GAP Grant from Artist Trust in Seattle, WA. I plan to use the money to purchase professional camera equipment and animation software. Click here to read my artist profile along with those of the other 60 recipients out of 933 applicants. My graduate school friends Molly Epstein, Kinu Watanabe, and Andy Fallat are among them.

2009-04-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a better view of the previous post. The collaged elements are taken from a tourist pamphlet of Washington, DC and the aerobics class schedule at my gym (which has been hanging in my studio unused for months). That pink seemed right and, really, who am I kidding? I certainly had good intentions when I posted that schedule, but it was time to put it to better use.

2009-04-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

9"x12" in-progress collage inspired by photograph taken across the street from my apt

2009-04-12T11:38:00.001-07:00

A collaged response to a photograph of my neighborhood. I was attracted to this particular spot on Capitol Hill because of the flattening of a deep space I achieved when cropping and photographing it. I also liked the many different planes of rectangular color and the way the light fell across the forms. When I look at the photograph I see no difference in substance between the shadows and the planes of color.

Three New Drawings

2009-04-11T18:08:00.001-07:00

Three new collages/drawings. As usual my brain is split between three areas of interest right now: self-portraits, studies of my (sometimes messy) apartment, and collages referencing landscape photos I took on a walk through Capitol Hill last October. I consider it a holistic approach to working, touching on myself, my environment, and the visual distortion of both. I'm using all of these subjects to develop a site specific installation for SOIL in August. I want to replicate the immediacy I experience making these drawings in the large 3-d install.

KAC Photos by Jenny Jenkins

2009-01-18T10:46:00.001-08:00

Here are a few photos taken before the opening on Jan 9th. I like how they warp the space even further and how my presence gives you a better idea of the scale of the work. Thanks Jenny!

Some press!

2009-01-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

I did a photoshoot with the Kirkland Reporter before the opening on Friday. I'm so happy with the way this turned out.

Coming to a Close

2009-01-04T16:36:00.001-08:00

The opening is approaching this Friday. Today, with the help of a patient friend, I varnished half of the staircase to prevent wear and tear to the painted areas. The other half will be varnished Tuesday night, as it requires a few days to dry. This long weekend was spent touching up edges, repainting areas that were scuffed, and adding more large areas of color as well as more collaged elements. I found some spray texture to recreate the brick and mortar near the window. That part is still in progress.

I'm really excited about the final product, but feel that I could probably work forever and never feel done. I think editing and knowing when to stop is a common problem among us artists. Sometimes I need a fresh set of eyes to say, Julie, stop! You're gonna screw it up if you add anymore! I hope to see you Friday at KAC from 6-8:30. The opening coincides with Site: Unseen in the gallery, so there will be plenty to (un)see.

Newest Kirkland Photos

2008-12-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

2008-12-01T17:30:00.001-08:00

Not done yet. Decided to overtake much of the stairwell. Getting pretty dizzying...Still waiting on that darn window film.

2008-11-23T11:15:00.001-08:00

The Latest KAC Photos

2008-11-22T11:54:00.001-08:00

I'll be putting the finishing touches on today. Still waiting on the window film, but that should arrive in the next week. I've really enjoyed developing and executing this project. The space was tricky and it was the first time I had to work around foot traffic. It's been beneficial to blog through the process. I always document my process as part of the process - it helps me make future decisions about the piece and is a literal embodiment of the history of marks made. I want the work to capture time like a film still. I also want to create a time-based experience for the viewer that causes them to take note of their surroundings and hopefully find new humorous or puzzling moments every time they walk through. It's also an exercise in tackling a conventional space with common objects used as value and shape on a human scale.

Almost Done

2008-11-21T08:09:00.000-08:00

I get the feeling the banister wants some paint on it...

More KAC Install

2008-11-20T11:56:00.001-08:00

A few more photos from last night's install. I'm about 75% done. Just waiting on the window film and will probably add a dash more color. Muted yellow maybe. The magazines flow down the stairs and round the corner near the entrance. There is also a line that moves up the stairs in jagged German Expressionist style. Though I have many ideas about why I do what I do in these spaces, I like to take my cues from Fellini who explained that it is dangerous to over analyze our creative decisions because it can stifle the creative process.

KAC Brainstorm

2008-11-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

New loose sketch for how I will continue on with the install. Covering the bottom portion of the windows on the left side of the space will be a transparent film with an image from a photograph I took. The photo has some bright yellow trees surrounded by a heavy fog and dotted with telephone poles and wires in SODO. The yellow on the wall and floor will tie in the window image. The green/blue stuff represents high-gloss latex paint covering magazines and Cliff's Notes I found at the Value Village. Of course, due to the way I work, everything is subject to change. I'm buzzing with anticipation.

Kirkland Arts Center Day 1

2008-11-17T21:58:00.001-08:00

Here's the beginning stage of my KAC install. I'm working mainly off the cuff, but have drawings to reference if I get lost. I'm playing off of the architectural and painted elements already present in the space such as the brick, wood, and diamond pattern on the floor. I've got some tricks up my sleeve yet.

Two New Collages

2008-11-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

The top photo is about 4'x2', mixed media on Rives. The bottom photo is about 2'x1', mixed media on paper. I see them both as exercises in composition, color, space, and materials. I'm experimenting with surface, magazine transfers, and incorporating the blue tape into the work that was used to affix it to the wall while working. I'm presently fascinated by the order in which a color or shape is laid down and how what comes after it affects whether it sits on top of the surface or under it. For example, the typewriter was laid in before the brown ink ground around it, yet it appears to be hovering above or sitting on the ink ground. I also like how the typewriter becomes a weird 3-d accordion fold that then spills into a large white ground. The paper beneath the white paint strives to remind us that this is not an image, but white paint on paper. In other words it shows a history of what came first in the process (the collaged paper) and refuses to let us accept the work as merely image.

A similar thing happens in the top photo where the white gesso meets the white paper. Because the gesso has body and is a much brighter white than the paper, it subtly sits on top of the paper even though from a distance it could almost blend right in. There are two reasons for this: 1. The pencil drawing of the box is drawn to look like it goes behind the gesso and 2. The gesso caught and trapped some eraser bits, drawing attention to the gesso's surface and its differentiation from the white paper around it.

Drawing in Progress

2008-10-22T09:26:00.001-07:00

The top photo is the 24"x36" mixed media drawing I'm working on. The two below it are details. It comes out of the same process I used for the work in the previous post. I want these drawings to reside in between over-produced slickness and handmade painterliness. I also want it to be difficult to locate or establish what plane the images within the drawing sit on.

Current Studio Investigation

2008-10-16T18:55:00.001-07:00

I am currently thinking about the relationships between texture, color, edges, and images. I love the meeting of glossy, shiny photographic images with hand drawn images. I am also interested in deep space that exists in a photograph and what happens when it's butted up against a hand drawn image that sits closer to the surface of the paper. My process is to put intuitive open marks on the page and then add some recognizable forms (drawers for example) that appear to be behind the marks, yet have more of a three-dimensional sensation. The last step is to screw up the visual logic further by taking a man-made image (photograph in a magazine) and framing the drawn image (drawers) making it appear to pop off the page and exist in a strange space somewhere between that of the watercolor/ink that sits on the surface and that of the photograph that creates deep, deep space. The most ironic part is that the drawers are just the white of the page; they are not in front of the magazine image yet appear that way. The photograph also becomes pattern because of the way I manipulate and change its shape. It flips between retaining a sense of depth due to the light, shape, and perspective of the image, and being a flat pattern. Essentially I am enjoying a visual and emotional phenomenon that occurs with the slight, yet precise manipulation and pairing of materials and images.

I can talk about all of these things formally, but I can't help but read into my obsession with visual trickery, removal of function, and the juxtaposition of disparate images/textures. I've always processed the world through allegory, metaphor, and narrative. It comes from an earnest belief in the poetry of things. I want to make sense of my chaotic relationship to the world. I've found that the greater the gap between an understatement and its true effect, the more moving the experience is for me. It's a little about irony and a little about how a simple gesture, statement, or act can be laden with so much complexity and meaning. I will find and post some of these examples from film and literature. For now, bedtime.

Questioning the fabric of reality...2008 25'x10'x8'

2008-10-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

Some images of my piece at the Henry 2008 MFA show. More 3-d collage, illusionism, flat vs deep space, this time with a nod to the proscenium stage. The window, bannister rails, and shutter made it into my next installation at Form/Space Atelier.

Baltimore 2008/Nun 2008

2008-10-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

These two pieces recycle parts from Adapted. With Baltimore I paired and took the function out of disparate, nostalgic found materials. My favorite part is the painted shadow on the floor. When the light caught it just right it gave off a distorted confusing sensation. Nun is like Adapted in that when the viewer stands in a specific place the white gap between the wall and the panel disappears and the whole piece looks flat. Again I was activating the materials so that they appeared to have a narrative or to be motion stopped in time like a reel from a film.

Adapted 2008 11'x12'x10'

2008-10-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

This was the second large installation I made in graduate school. I marked a spot in the corner opposite the piece and from that perspective I arranged and painted the space so that the chair melted into the scene around it. The chair, corner shadow, white paper, and pastry sleeves made their way into the next 3 installations. Recycling is resourceful.

A few more from Untitled Installation 2008 12'x12'x24'

2008-10-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few in progress shots followed by 2 more detail shots of the finished piece. The photographs become works in themselves and turn into collages and drawings.

Untitled Installation 2008 12'x12'x24'

2008-10-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

This is a detail from the first installation I made in graduate school on a grand scale. I locked myself in a cold room with windows that led into another interior (no natural light) and with some David Bowie, Jens Lekman, and Kanye West keeping the beat, I intuitively started marking and altering the cold, institutional space. I decided on a palette, scale, and materials, but the imagery was mostly accidental. I knew that I wanted to warp the space by using illusionistic tricks. I also withheld all judgment and just allowed myself to respond to the elements of the room. The stool was already there and it provided me an opportunity to play with illusion and animation. This was also the first time I used woodgrain contact paper as a collage element. In the end I was satisfied with the cinematic, confusing, and playful space. I felt I had successfully composed a 3-dimensional collage using a variety of artificial and organic materials. The relationship of high-gloss latex paint to weathered newsprint to the artificiality of the glossy woodgrain contact paper had a real impact on me. I realized that this use of materials was directly related to the way I experience contemporary consumer culture, especially in a city like Seattle where there is so much mixing of nostalgic eras, like modernism, with garage sale chic. The culture here seems to embrace the past as a way of confronting the chaotic present.

Reflections

2008-10-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've missed out on the blog thing for long enough. I'm not even sure if they're cool anymore. It's like when I finally decided to climb aboard the Mac Train and all my friends started buying Dells again. But that is not what this blog is about. It is about the process of creating. I like for things to have direction, substance, and a general framework - they just make more sense to me that way. So I've decided to begin by looking back at the work I've made that is most strongly reflected in the work I am currently pursuing. I can already predict that there will be lots of lists and brainstorms along with quieter posts that only contain an image or a line from a novel I'm reading. Everything we read, see, hear, smell, experience informs and shapes the things we make. Therefore I think it's important to remain open and available to what the universe is telling us. One of the Betty Bowen special mention winners, Wynne Greenwood, remarked that Seattle was metaphorically just giving her things and she was staying open to it all.