Julie Ashcroft

Julie Ashcroft graduated from College of Fine Arts, UNSW in 1994, obtaining a Master of Art degree. She has been a finalist in the Blake Religious Prize, Fremantle Print Award and a Semi Finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2015, and winner for Miniature Sculpture awards in 2004, 2005 and 2018.

“I am a Sydney-based figurative artist, working in the media of drawing, painting, and sculpture. My work explores human psychology and the complexities of the human figure, while attempting to capture significant moments in time. I also use landscape, townscape, and interiors both to tell stories and to evoke moods.

Drawing is fundamental to everything I create and I spend much time working out my compositions in experimental drawings. My figurative drawings are characterised by the fluidity and rhythm of the linework, achieved after more than 30 years’ experience. And I love using pastels for their brilliant colour and texture. I am a former teacher and lecturer in art, but now focus exclusively on my artwork.

Currently I am working on a series called The Child Within, using the media of drawing, painting, and possibly some sculptures. In creating this work, I have been especially drawn to the technique of chiaroscuro, the play of light and shade, to invoke a sense of mystery and also a sense of the fugitive and sometimes surreal quality of one’s impressions of the past. In this work, I’m attempting to pin down the unique atmosphere of my family home, as I experienced it as a small child.”