Artist Statement
My inspiration stems from two distinct influences — my deeply rooted connection to the amazing natural beauty of Prince Edward Island, and to my involvement in visual art, dance, music and theatre from a young age. As a dancer-turned-visual artist, I see the world around me as a dance that I put into paint. This reveals itself through recurring themes of movement, joy and sense of place in my art. I create fresh and contemporary abstracts that include colourful, stylized expressions of nature as well as beautifully lyrical, purely abstract pieces. I also work on cross-disciplinary projects with performing artists. Moving to music while creating, I approach each piece as an imaginative, kinetic and tactile process of discovery. I'm a fan of working on raw canvas and using different kinds of rags — including linen, cotton, terry, muslin and paper— to apply, blend and erase colour. And I’m not afraid of colour! Fluorescent and metallic pigments punctuate and add joy to my work.
Biography
Julea Boswell's multifaceted career includes early days as a dance artist managing her own studio on PEI and later becoming a teaching artist with the School of the Alberta Ballet Company. Following that, she spent over 20 years in marketing and management roles, including leading award-winning public engagement initiatives with the City of Ottawa and serving as general manager with Propeller Dance Company. As a child and teenager, Julea studied dance and performed in professional theater with the Charlottetown Summer Festival, in addition to painting. She has continuously expressed herself through visual art and now dedicates her time to painting. Currently, she is taking a multidisciplinary approach to her practice, integrating performing and visual arts — collaborating with Propeller Dance in Ottawa and Atlantic String Machine in PEI — to create large-scale abstracts featured in dance-theatre and outdoor performance events. Boswell's work has been in solo and group shows and is held in collections in Canada, the US, Europe, Asia and Mexico. Her art is available at Partial Gallery (online), The Dunes Gallery (PEI), and Bistro Le Chat Bleu (NB). She holds a Dipl. in Theatre (Dance), BFA in Visual Art, and an MBA. Boswell lives and works in PEI and Ottawa, Ontario. She has also lived in Toronto, Edmonton and Berlin.
