Julie Bowland will exhibit oil paintings and watercolor/mixed/pastel media works on paper, October 5th – October 26, 2019, at the Gallery at High Cotton (home of JOBA Art Studios) in Apalachicola.

YOU ARE INVITED! Come meet Julie at the gallery from 5-7 pm during our art opening party Sat., Oct. 5th. We will follow with a house concert; we're so proud to welcome back The David Rodock Trio and Dirty Bird and the Flu--all these creative friends are from Valdosta!

About the Artist: Julie Bowland is a Valdosta, Georgia based artist who teaches art and directs the Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery at Valdosta State University. As a landscape painter she applies oil paint in a thick, painterly impasto, painting directly from the wild landscape in bold, expressive color. Sometimes she paints from a canoe or kayak to capture remote, watery places. Formerly a Tallahassee resident, she has a BFA in Painting from Florida State University and an MFA from Arizona State University.

Bowland's work is included in private, public and corporate collections, including the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach; the City of Tallahassee Permanent Collection; Barnett Bank in Jacksonville; First South Bank in Tallahassee and Florida State College at Jacksonville.  Her work was featured in a solo exhibition at the Buchanan Museum of Fine Arts in Buchanan, Michigan, and she recently exhibited at the Kobro Gallery, Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland. Her work is represented by the Venvi Gallery in Tallahassee, Florida.

In the recent years, Bowland has led Plein Air painting workshops for high school students, college students and adult artists in Florida, Georgia and Utah.

Artist Statement, 2019

"I work directly from nature with oil paint applied in a thick vigorous impasto. Color is everything to me: It expresses intensity of emotion as it defines space and form. While color and form may be freely interpreted, it remains important to me to work from nature.  I appreciate the directness and spontaneity of the dynamic, always changing conditions of the outdoors while I paint and draw: They create a joy and a challenge while I work, and I often have no idea how a painting will turn out. That spontaneity is the fun part.

The French called painting directly from nature en plein air, "in open air." It is exciting and inspiring to slather paint, engulfed in a wild swamp or forest, to dance with the elements of wind, wildlife, shifting light, and all the other uncontrollable aspects of nature. This joy and excitement drives me to make art.  I think of my style of art as plein air expressionism".

For more information on this fine artist and to see more of her works, please visit her website: http://www.juliebowland.com

We are excited for this opportunity to present our long time friend; her art will join other new works offered by gallery owner artists, Jenny Odom and Beth Appleton.

After the Oct. 5th opening please visit the gallery to see this new exhibition. Her works will be on view and offered for sale during our regular hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm.