To see a gallery of my newest work visit my website: https://juliebranch.com 

To see more about my process and studio follow me on Instagram @jbranch.art

"Hawk" in Upstate Artists Juried Show at Laffer Gallery

I was thrilled when "Hawk" was juried into the Upstate Artists Annual Juried Group Show at the Laffer Gallery in Schuylerville, New York and stunned when it was selected as Best of Show along with two other artists' works.  The award for Best In Show is an exhibit with the other winners in 2018 so I am looking forward to sharing more work at the Laffer Gallery later this year!  

"Hawk" in the Laffer Gallery, Schulerville, NY

"Hawk" detail

"Hawk"

Work in Scarlet Seven Fine Art Gallery Inaugural Show

Rabbit at Rest

I am excited to have this piece plus other work featured  in a new gallery opening in Troy, New York.   Scarlet Seven Fine Art Gallery is artists, co-owners and curators Jon Gernon and Jillian Platt's new gallery and it opens this Friday night, May 26th.  Jon and Jillian's goal is to help support working artists and the gallery will be featuring a diverse selection of contemporary art as well as functional art. If you are in the area I hope you stop by and check it out. 

Polypore Fungi and Frog

Polypore Fungi With Tree Frog

These pitfired porcelain polypore fungi and tree frog  were created to honor these vital yet often under appreciated denizens of the forest.  Besides being one of the primary mechanisms for decomposition they are  an indicator species. Their presence, or absence, indicates the health of a forest.  They are often absent in logged and over managed forests. Besides being beautiful, some of these fungi even contain substances that inhibit the growth of tumors.  While it's easy to muster up compassion and concern for the wolf, whale or elephant these organisms deserve some attention too. 

Ursa

This bear emerged from the studio about the same time we had one visit the woods.  He or she left her claw marks on a birch tree she pushed over. Bears have been a powerful symbol in my life, especially when I was a single mother of two little ones.  My cubs are grown now but the protective instinct of Ursa served me well when they were young.  This piece along with others will be part of the inaugural show at the new gallery Scarlet Seven opening May 26th in Troy, New York.

Out of the Ashes

I'm working on a body of work that is a direct result of my daily explorations in the woods surrounding my home and studio.  There's only so long that you can be in these woods before they seep into your bones.

Hair Spray and Opinions Pop Up Show

I'll have some of my new pit fired work in this show. It's in a funky venue in downtown Troy and I'm excited to be included in this group of artists.  

Burnt Offerings--Playing With Fire

 After what feels like fumbling around forever to find a direction that fully engages me I am excited by my recent pit fired sculptures.  They are inspired by my own encounters with animals and are  grounded in the writings of  Paul Shepard, noted anthropologist, ecologist and author of The Others, Coming Home to The Pleistocene, and many other thought provoking books.  I have been exploring animal imagery for the past several years and have gone from the approachable, cuter figure to these somewhat mysterious figures.  I am hoping to create that feeling of heightened awareness combined with a little fear and wonder that I have when I come face to face with an animal.  Shepard argues that without our relationship to The Others we are not fully human.  With the "Disneyfication" of animals making all animals cute and friendly we deny them their mysterious power and a knowledge that is greater than ours in many ways.  Without recognizing the wild in animals we deny our own primitive and wild nature.

Song Dogs

 The process of creating these animals is exciting as the action of the fire on the bisqued clay is completely out of my control and yields amazing results. The pieces are buried in layers of sawdust, newspaper, and branches that I collect from our woods. Once the fire is lit the pit is covered and burns all day and night. In the morning I remove the cover and see what magic the fire has worked. It is always exciting to brush the ashes away and see the patterns on the clay.

Explorer or Miner?

From an article by Stephen M. Parks about artist Armand Lara:
"Artists might be roughly lumped into two categories, the miners and the explorers. The miners find a medium, a style and subject matter that fit their aesthetic sensibility and then spend a professional lifetime mining that creative lode.  The explorers, on the other hand, are restless souls plying their protean talents in this genre and that working one vein then turning to another that gleams there in the mysterious muck.  Giacometti was a miner.  Picasso was an explorer.  And Armand Lara is an explorer."

These words have helped me explain why I work in clay, fiber, wood and concrete and have worked large, small and in between.  I just finished a children's book created with illustrations made from figures and sets I constructed and am now back in the world of fired clay with the intention of doing some large installations. Along the way I took a quick detour and did a fiber piece about my childhood in a military family.  Time will tell if the world can accept the explorers of the world.  In the meantime I am on a great adventure!

Bats!

This mixed media piece is made from an "upcycled" leather coat, ceramic and wire.  I've had enough experiences with bats inside my house that I know that I love them best when they are outside!

The Others

"Some societies require their members to seek inspiration for the sake of the society.  The social philosophy here is that you can best serve others when you are in service to the Others."

                                                                  -James Hillman 

                                                                  The Soul's Code

 "Art objects are lures, attracting certain spirits, and they're a container for that spirit."

                                                                  -Ficino 

 "We can be recharged by taking nature's spirituality into us and allowing it to transform us into natural beings."                                                                 

                                                                  -Thomas Moore

                                                                  The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life

Pit firing

Sentries

Sentries back view

Ring Them Bells!

When I received the invitation to be a part of the "20 for 20" exhibition celebrating the 20th birthday of the Textile Center I started thinking about the lyrics from the Leonard Cohen song "Anthem":

 "Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, 

there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."  

And how bells are rung to celebrate so many thing. the saying "I'll be there with bells on," and then the Bob Dylan song  "Ring them Bells."  I had these wonderful bells that I bought on a very special trip to Santa Fe with my dear friend and my daughter that have been waiting in the studio for that special piece.  So here is my imperfect offering complete with 20 bells, one to ring  for each year of the Textile Center's existence.  I am grateful to the Textile Center for giving me this opportunity to share in their celebration and for championing the value and beauty of fiber art.  

For Aurora: Every Day's a Good Day

My homage to Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, is made of hand sculpted cone 6 porcelain with a fabric and batting wrapped armature and a garment made of 14 different fibers.  Her pants are made of dupioni silk and her halo of hair is from a wonderful Icelandic sheep.  Making her was a reflection and celebration of my own journey in fiber arts as I did some dyeing, felting, spinning, weaving and sewing and remembered when I learned how to do each of those things. Each of those skills was taught to me by a wonderful woman at a different stage in my life. Added to all of that is the sculpted porcelain, which I have just recently learned thanks to a wonderful man. Hard/soft, masculine/feminine, clay/fiber... it was wonderful to bring them together to create a joyous reminder that every day that we are here is a gift.

20 for 20 Exhibit at the Textile Center in Minneapolis

I am honored to be included in this exhibit celebrating the Textile Center's 20th birthday. Read more about it at /http://www.textilecentermn.org/20-for-20-celebrating-textile-centers-20th-birthday/

Ratatoskr

Ratatoskr

This is the squirrel of Norse myth who runs up and down the world Ash tree, Yggdrasil, and communicates between the eagle who lives at the top and the serpent who lives at the base.  The eagle can be said to represent our higher self or the spiritual world while the dragon represents our id, primitive self, or the material world.  When Odin wanted to know what was going on with the people on earth he consulted Ratatoskr.
,

Nature Studies

This piece was inspired by Manet's famous painting "Olympia."  

The mole was sculpted using a real mole as the model.  This series explores human nature using elements of "nature."  

Nature Study: Sciurus olympia
Porcelain and stoneware

                                                   

Nature Study: Snake v. Mouse

Here is the finished piece that was inspired by a dream that I had.  My working title was "Naked Lunch" but it is up to the viewer to decide the outcome of this encounter. 

Nature Study: Snake v. Mouse
Porcelain and Stoneware

Detail

Anthrozoology 101

In looking at the idea of how we relate to and view animals I am curious about the effect of putting clothing on them.  Growing up seeing clothed animals in fairy tales and in Walt Disney movies I wondered what would happen if one animal is clothed and another isn't. Does our heart go out to the one who is humanized by having clothing even if the animal, in this case a snake, is one that we don't often feel an affinity for?

Mouse vs. Snake

Pigeons

Inspired by these pigeons roosting on an old billboard frame, I jumped into mold making and pit firing a flock of my own. Pigeons are one of those creatures that people seem to love or hate.  When I lived in New York City people referred to them as "rats with wings."  After sculpting several out of Plasticine I made press molds and molded 19 pigeons.

So far in my work with clay, figuring out how to finish the pieces has been the greatest challenge. Glazing is a vast area with seemingly zillions of options but for the pigeons I really wanted them to have the soft, sooty look you get with pit fired ceramics.

I built a pit in my backyard using cinder blocks then had some fun collecting horse manure, shavings, banana peels, corn husks, coffee grounds, and kindling for the fire. A couple of sheets of metal made a cover for the smoking and the adventure began.

 
Pigeons ready to be covered with coffee grounds, banana peels, corn cobs, and leaves.


Pigeon with combustibles. I thought that firing them in garbage was somehow fitting with their being categorized as "trash animals."

The pit at the start of the firing.








Pigeons burning and getting sooty.

Part of the finished flock.

"For Pele: Playing With Fire" Wins People's Choice Award

I am so pleased to share that Pele won the People's Choice Award at the show in Minnesota:

"For Pele: Playing With Fire" by Julie Branch of Rottedam, NY won the People's Choice Award for the "Figuratively Fiber" exhibition of art dolls. There were lots of votes and our guests had many favorites.  Thanks to all the artists who shared their work and to Richard and Jodi Creager, the jurors, who selected such a great diversity of art dolls for the Textile Center to Exhibit.  "For Pele: Playing with Fire" was purchased and is now a part of a couple's fiber art collection."
from
Textiles on the Town
Textile Center of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
http://juliebranch.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html