Biography
Julia C R Gray, is a native California artist who lives in Cardiff by the Sea, San Diego, CA. Julia sculpts opalescent, Oceans-inspired ceramic torsos in her home studio. Julia’s art career spans decades, her work is grounded in continued artistic growth and Nature’s dynamic energy of the current moment. Julia's daily art practice includes photographing sunrise beach walks and bringing revelations from her ritual into the ceramic studio.
Julia's many years of experience in oil painting informs her personal method of working with ceramic glazes, painting layers of underglazes, glazes, oxides, and lusters. Her Story Torso series portrays multilayered messages, starting with vulnerability of the oceans and our bodies, balanced with the message of the power of the oceans and the strength of women’s bodies. Julia’s artwork also comments on contemporary life, personal experience and consciousness of nature. Her work is informed by Master Women Artists such as Modern sculptor Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975), Renaissance artists: Artemisia Gentileschi (1596-1654), and Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614)
Gray worked as a representational painter from 1980 to 2010, creating murals and oil paintings, until she returned to University to study sculpture. She completed a BFA with Honors, in 2014, from San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). Gray studied abroad in Argentina, through SFAI. She has been awarded scholarships and art grants, notably from Davis Projects for Peace for art and environmental work in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. Her sculpture images have been published in magazines, academic texts, and chosen as the cover for MODIFIED Living as a Cyborg, published 2021. Gray’s work is collected nationally. Selected exhibitions include Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN; Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI; San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, CA; Oceanside Museum of Art, CA; Loveland Museum, Loveland, Colorado; and The American Museum of Ceramics, Pomona, CA.