October’s featured artist provides Resonator’s audience with an out of town treat. Julia Curran is a printmaker and multidisciplinary artist based in Saint Louis, MO. Curran describes her work as “a brightly colored barrage of many-layered magnificence.” Experience this for yourselves on Oct 11, 2019 from 6:00-10:00 p.m. at Resonator Institute, 325 E. Main St, Norman, OK. And if you can’t join us for the show on 2nd Friday Art Walk in Norman, look for a video interview with Curran to come.
-Helen Grant
“Electric Roots” print by Julia Curran
Q/A
Q. What inspired your most recent prints?
A. My most recent work has actually been mixed-media altar-piece paintings. I’m a huge fan of Hieronymus Bosch, weird Medieval art, Italian street altars, and different Mexican folk art traditions, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of the Divine Feminine. I started making triptych paintings on panel with hinged doors that open and close; raw contemporary altar-pieces paying homage to the sacred feminine and universal creativity. There aren’t any of these pieces in this current show, but you can see them on my website!
“The Lovers” print by Julia Curran
Q. How has your print making and other art practices changed since you last exhibited in Norman?
A. My show at Dope Chapel in 2015, The World is Yours: The Frantic Rise and Ultimate Demise of VERY Big Boys, was satire about the absurdities of toxic masculinity and the extreme excesses of American capitalism. It was my Master’s of Fine Art thesis show; the body of work culminating at the end of a rigorous 3-year graduate school experience. My current work still focuses on these themes, which are more relevant than ever today, but I’ve begun to explore this idea of the sacred feminine, which might be an antidote to our current overwhelming global and interpersonal struggles.
“Freedom!” print by Julia Curran
Q. What’s your plans for this show, will there be performance?
A. This show will be a survey of prints I’ve completed within the past few years across several bodies of work. This show will be calmer and will hopefully involve less displaced kneecaps and confused pedestrians, but the work will be equally exciting.
“Nature’s Grasp” print by Julia Curran
Q. What art have you encountered recently that really made you stop and think?
A. I’m really excited about Rebecca Morgan’s work. She is a wonderful contemporary artist from rural Pennsylvania who makes paintings, prints, ceramics, and more that subverts stereotypes of Appalachia and explores contemporary issues facing women. As someone who also makes raw and graphic work focusing on similar issues, I feel very inspired to see her work and her success.
Q. What art events and exhibits have you been in or are currently excited about this year?
A. I currently have a solo exhibition at Lowe Mill ARTS center in Huntsville, Alabama. The opening was two weeks ago, and I taught a relief print workshop and gave a lecture and everyone there was lovely. I also have a feature and interview in the latest HEY! Modern art and Pop Culture Review book, HEY! Deluxe #4, which is this fantastic art review publication based in Paris, France. I’ve been a fan of their magazines and books for a long time and it’s really exciting to be published in their newest book.
Q. Is there anything else I haven't asked about your time in Norman?
A. It’s an honor to be exhibiting at Resonator and working with students at OU, thank you for everything!
“Mother” print by Julia Curran
ARTIST BIO:
Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, Julia is a Fulbright scholar, the youngest member of The Outlaw Printmakers, and received her MFA from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi in 2015.
“Ghost Hands and Holy Teeth” painting by Julia Curran