Julie Roberts (artist) facts for kids

Julie Roberts (born 12 September 1963) is a talented Welsh painter. She creates art using different types of paint, like acrylics, oils, and watercolours. Julie Roberts studied art at several well-known schools. In her early paintings, she often showed medical tools and furniture. Later, her art included dolls and mannequins. Her artworks have been shown in many exhibitions across America and Europe. You can find her paintings in various museums and private collections.

Early Life and Education

Julie Roberts was born on September 12, 1963, in Flint, which is in North Wales, United Kingdom.

Art School Journey

From 1980 to 1984, Julie studied design at the Wrexham School of Art. There, she earned two important art diplomas. She then continued her studies in London at Saint Martin's School of Art from 1986 to 1987. After that, she went to the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. From 1988 to 1990, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1992, she also spent some time as a visiting student at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts.

Career as an Artist

In her first ten years as an artist, Julie Roberts often painted medical equipment and furniture. She would show a single item against a bright, solid background. An example of this is her 1992 painting called Obstetrics and Gynaecology Couch.

Exploring Different Themes

Around 1995, Julie created a series of paintings called the Straightjacket series. One painting from this series, Restraining Coat (Female 2), showed different tools used in the 1800s. She also started painting unusual or imaginary creatures that same year.

In 1996, Julie spent a year in Rome, Italy, at the British School at Rome. This was a special scholarship. She used this time to think of new ideas and learn more about painting. Her time in Rome inspired her to paint the study and desk of a famous thinker, Sigmund Freud, in several artworks that year.

Later Works and Exhibitions

Later, Julie Roberts created paintings about children who were abandoned or needed care. She also painted about famous people at the end of their lives. In 2006, she made a work called The Good Wife. This painting was inspired by old manuals from the 1930s that taught women how to be good housewives.

That same year, she used old photographs from the Glasgow School of Art. These photos showed female students drawing and painting in the early 1900s. She used these images to create her oil painting Girls Painting (The Drawing Lesson). This series honored the school's building and its forward-thinking approach to women students.

In 2010, Julie made a series of paintings that looked like children's books or instruction manuals. These paintings were based on historical records of children in difficult situations. She was inspired by children's homes run by organizations like Barnardo's, foster care, and children who were evacuated during wars.

Julie Roberts has shown her art in many group and solo exhibitions. These shows have taken place in major cities across Europe and America. Her paintings are part of important collections in museums and private homes.