Julie K. Gray

SPACE Gallery is pleased to present local artist Julie K. Gray, who will give a talk in conjunction with her installation, Waiting Room, on view in the SPACE window gallery from Saturday, January 13, through Sunday, March 4, 2018. 

After experiencing a near-death incident in 2009, Gray finds that much of her artwork addresses mortality and the psychological space of “limbo,” thematically. In order to address these intangible subjects, she has come to use symbolic means, humor, kitsch, cultural signposts and varied media (primarily needlepoint, childhood craft, photography and video) to become more accessible to the audience, and to perhaps open up dialog about mortality and spiritual inquiry (and doubt thereof)-subjects typical deemed “taboo” in contemporary North American society.

D. W. Winnicott once said, “it is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers self.” But while Gray encourages the notion of play and cultivates creativity and discovery through childhood craft, her work also nods to the innovative works of Friedrich Froebel, creator of Kindergarten in early 19th century Germany.  Froebel stated that his lessons, which stressed more serious experimentation with simple forms, tools and the study of nature’s geometry were “intended to be nothing less than a model of universal perfection and the key to recognizing one’s place in the natural continuum.”