Buy Good Art: Julie Smith and “In-Stitches”
Here is something which will never be past its sell-by date. After all, good art lasts for ever, doesn’t it. But I must admit that this post should have been racked up on the blog shelves of cheoff.com long before now. Mrs Cheoff and I purchased this lovely artwork from Julie Smith as a wedding anniversary gift to ourselves in 2016. For our Ruby Wedding that year to be precise.
Seven years later, and much has changed. Our marriage is seven years older and our love is seven years deeper, of course! There have been all manner of those small delights and major threats - here’s looking at you, Covid - which we can expect to meet as we navigate a life on this planet. But our own example of Julie’s work continues to remind us of a special moment and provides us with regular distraction; whether we give it an affectionate glance or spend several minutes once again exploring its intricacies.
Back to seven years before. We travelled to Norfolk as part of our ‘Ruby’ celebrations in the summer of 2016 to enjoy a little photography and sculpture culture. A bit more than a bite to eat at ‘Benedicts’, our favourite Norwich restaurant. And a visit to Blickling Estate which included taking a flight of stairs up to The Loft Gallery where 'In Stitches' were holding their exhibition. At the time this group consisted of three women all ablaze with creativity and textile talent.
Patricia Birks was there. Her teaching and influence was acknowledged on the day and is still recognised by the other two who we met. You can still see the work of Justine Williamson on her website and Facebook page. We were immediately attracted to its rich colours and its raised and structured surface textures.
Julie Smith completed the trio and presented yet more tempting offerings; broader landscapes vying with zoomed-in flower portraits. We were pulled more to her work and narrowed things down to a pick between a calmed-by-blues wintry scene and a blousy close-up of daisies. You have already seen the final choice hanging in one of our dining room alcoves.
We are most certainly not on a mission to save artists from penury and hunger but as electronic connection was made and our transaction confirmed it was wryly amusing and poignant to hear Julie say, “That’s lovely. I’ll be eatin’ steak tonight.”
The four corners of the whole piece will click open in a ‘Lightbox’ for each image to show the detail which Julie includes in her work.
Julie’s business card is taped to the back of our mounted work. Those links and contacts remain the same. You might be keen to use them after seeing some of her output here.
Neil Gaiman exhorts us all to ‘Make Good Art’. This is just one of a series of posts in my blog where I advocate that you also buy good art. Creativity deserves to be appreciated, rewarded and fed.
Julie Smith’s talent remains worth your serious attention.
BUY GOOD ART
#MakeGoodArt
#BuyGoodArt