Julia Berkman

Julia Berkman was born in 1976 and lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.  Berkman received a Bachelor of Arts in 1999 from Swarthmore College. In 2007 she received her Masters of Fine Arts from Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts.

I live in Watertown and work out of my studio in Somerville, Massachusetts. For years I painted representationally, exploring my love of color and using expressive brushstrokes to depict the world around me. In 2003, my paintings took a decisive turn towards abstraction. I had set up an elaborate still life in my studio using Chinese lanterns, suspended pieces of fabric, colored lampshades and objects. The still life was in front of a large window, and the effect was an overflowing miasma of color and light. From this still life I created numerous small and large paintings. The still life was only a starting point; the objects transformed themselves into glowing silhouettes of color, buoyant concentrations of energy. 

The paintings I am making now are visual reflections of my internal emotional world.  Although I am not using a still life as a source, my visual vocabulary of color, touch and line is inextricably linked to everything that I have seen, thought and experienced. Abstraction allows me to explore the complex and layered elements of my experience. I am interested in what cannot be expressed in words, the fuzzy terrain between foreground and background, presence and absence, volume and void.

Recently I have gravitated towards using a more restricted palette. Limiting my palette both narrows and widens my focus. Every color is distinctly itself, yet open to change and fluctuation. A singular expanse of color is both something and nothing, and everything in between. The spaces “in between” are what inspire and motivate me in my work: the space between what we know and what we wish we knew, what we have and what we have lost, what we can say and what we don’t know how to say, and what we struggle to conceal and reveal about ourselves.

CV

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, 1976

Lives

Watertown, Massachusetts

Education

2007    MFA, Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
2005    Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Studio Art, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
1999    BA, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

Professional Experience

2006- 2007   Instructor, Drawing Fundamentals, Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
2005    Instructor, Artmaking, Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
2005    Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Drawing, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2005    Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Sculpture, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2004    Teaching Assistant, Beginning Drawing, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

Solo Exhibitions

2007  MFA Thesis Show, Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ

Group Exhibitions

2011    Primary, UForge Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA
2006    Rutgers University at Domo Gallery, Domo Gallery, Summit, NJ
2006    Annual Student Faculty Show, Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
2005    First Year Graduate Exhibition, Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
2005    Post-Baccalaureate Painting Show, Dreitzer Gallery, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2005    Drawing Show, Dreitzer Gallery, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2004    Arches Print Exhibition, Boston Univeristy, Boston, MA
2004    Between the Lines: Drawing Show, Dreitzer Gallery, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2004    Post-Baccalaureate Painting Show, Dreitzer Gallery, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2004    Festival of the Arts Exhibition, Shapiro Music Building, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

Residencies

2004    Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
1999    Chautauqua Institute of Art, Chatauqua, NY

Publications

2011    New American Paintings, 2011 Northeast Edition, #92
2010    Studio Visit, Volume Eleven