Biography
Julie St. Clair is a Photographer working in the New Media art space. She studied fine art and commercial photography at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, CA, and has been working in photography and video for more than 35 years. She began as an Editorial Photographer, moved into Art Direction and became Creative Director and then commercial film Director/Producer. Julie went on to form her own video production company - writing, shooting and editing video for University of Washington, Siemens, Microsoft and various non-profits. During her career Julie spent time as a color specialist - an intensive education in late 20th and early 21st century pre-press and print technology, with a focus on the digital values that make up color and its manipulation - and this informs her work today. Julie lives in Seattle, WA, with her husband and extended family and now works solely on her her photographic artworks.
Artist Statement
“The Camera has never been simply a mechanism to me. It’s the main source of my creativity and has been all of my adult life. When I turn my lens to something with intention I feel the moment is necessary and what is in my sights responds. I am drawn to that sensation, about what calls to me to be captured, seen, taken, recorded. But it’s the digital tools available today that allows my art to exist. My artworks are made from layers of images - random moments captured over time and space. Through blending and other tools I’m able to move any single image beyond the range of its own limits. The weight of the digital crush creates its own dynamic - an opening where I feel a sense of collaboration between the captured image, my software and myself. This transcendence of a literal interpretation of my known reality is where I can explore my human experience in an existential, abstract way. I’m allowed to speak a different language, a new truth, through my artworks which are familiar to me and at the same time completely new. I’m fascinated with the luminescence and depth a painting can provide and I strive to create those qualities in my work.”
All Artworks are created solely from my own photography, printed on fine art paper with a matte finish and mounted on archival materials. The resulting pieces are intended for large space and are displayed without glass, enabling unobstructed appreciation of the intricate details of my work. This approach blends the technical precision of photography with the expressive qualities of painting to create a distinct visual language.
Unless otherwise noted all artworks are limited edition Giclée prints on fine art paper with a matte finish.
Collaboration on custom, site-specific projects for personal environments or large commercial spaces accepted on a commission basis.
Contact Julie St. Clair at 510-387-7500, julie@juliestclair.com
Exhibitions
2021; Art Not Terminal (ANT) Gallery, Seattle, WA, Spring Group Show
2019; Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA), Seattle, WA; Motherland Group Exhibit