Artist Statement:

b.1976.Consett,County Durham.Julie Easton graduated from Sunderland University in 2009 with a BA(hons) Fine Art. Her working practice falls into several genres,'Figurative',' Abstraction' and 'Expressionism' Her self portraits are a reflection of her inner mind.Whilst she paints her facial expression, she conveys her emotions through realistic lines. The abstraction and expressionistic vision is driven by her mood, feeling executed through expressive mark making, and elements such as form, pattern, texture, repetition and rhythm. Julie is inspired by the natural world around her and incorporates it into her work. Artist traits of her work are a muted color palette,a strong use of tonality and expressive mark making married within a spacial awareness. Through her practice Julie wants to express her own experience of being Neurodivergent. She uses her lived experience of mental health to inform her work. She likes to use surrealist symbolic narrative to express this to the viewer. She wants to break down the stigma of mental illness in our society and use her platform as an artist to celebrate herself and others with neurodiversity. She lives and works in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.