About the Artist
Artist Statement and Summary CV
Julie Barnes is an award winning artist, a visual storyteller. Her work examines the connection between humans and nature. Julie seeks the extraordinary in the ordinary. Working from imagination, memory and rooted in reality, she draws on forms from the visible and invisible ‘other world’. The result is imagery that feels both intimate and universally relatable. Julie explores the power of wonderment and hope and her paintings offer the viewer an opportunity for stillness and an awareness of the threads that connect us all. Her artwork is held in private collections and is widely shown, including the prestigious John Ruskin awards, Lynn Painter Stainers Prize,Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Exhibition, and with each of the four Scottish exhibiting societies. Her work has received several awards. She recently completed a commission for large permanent 8 metre public artwork, and had work selected for the inaugural Scottish Landscape Awards.
Selected recent exhibitions:
2025 schedule
Open Eye Gallery ‘On a small Scale’ Exhibition, Edinburgh November - January
Fidra Fine Art ‘Made in East Lothian’ - February - March
Borders Art Fair 2025 ‘VAS’ - outcome awaited - March
Society Women Artists - outcome awaited - June
The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture - RSA Annual Exhibition - OPEN ART 2025 - awaited May - June
Gallery 27 - Dunbar on-going 2025
2024 - 2022
Open Eye Gallery ‘On a small Scale’ Exhibition, Edinburgh November - December 2024
Visual Arts Scotland (VAS) Centenary show: Now and then - Dalkeith Palace - August 2024
VAS ‘Hope is a thing with feathers’ show at Scottish Ornithological Society, East Lothian - August - Sept 2024
VAS - Centenary show: Then and Now - Royal Scottish Academy - February - March 2024
VAS - Borders Art Fair - March 2024
John Ruskin Awards Exhibition, Trinity Buoy Wharf Gallery, London - January - February 2024
Dukes Gallery - spring show, March - June 2024
Scottish Landscape Awards, City Arts Centre, Edinburgh, November 2023 - March 2024
Open Eye Gallery - On a small scale Exhibition, November 2023- Jan 2024
Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, 2023
Permanent large scale public artwork, 8 metre wide, Scotland, 2022
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, September 2002 - touring UK 2023
VAS ‘North’ Exhibition, Inverness Academy, 2022
ANGUSAlive Meffan Art Gallery winter show 2022, November 2022 - January 2023
Open Eye Gallery - On a Small Scale Exhibition, Edinburgh, December 2022
Society Scottish Artists (SSA) Borders Art Fair 2022
Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour Annual exhibition (RSW), Edinburgh, 2021
Gallery 27, East Lothian 2022
VAS ‘Reverb’ Exhibition, 2022
2021 - 2020
Open Eye Gallery, On a Small Scale Exhibition, Edinburgh 2021/2022
D31 Gallery Summer Exhibition, Doncaster, 2021
Public Artwork - Marine plastics installation ‘Kairos’, Fringe by the Sea, North Berwick, 2021
Paisley Art Institute (PAI) Scottish Drawing Exhibition, 2021
Brown and Turner Auction House, Contemporary Painting Exhibition, Jedburgh, 2021
Open Eye Gallery, On a Small Scale Exhibition, Edinburgh, 2020/2021
‘Flow’, VAS Members selected group show, 2021
SSA 30 x 30 exhibition, 2021
‘Resonant Strangeness’, Marram Arts online Exhibition, 2021
100 days Scotland Project, 2020
Visual Arts Scotland (VAS) Exhibition, Borders Art Fair show, Kelso, 2020
2019/2018
Lynn Painter Stainers Prize Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, 2018
Royal Institute painters in Watercolour, (RI), London
Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, London, 2018
Borders Art Fair, Kelso
‘The world Outside’ curated collection, Saatchi Art online
VAS Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2019
Threads Exhibition, International Women's Day, Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh
Open Eye Gallery, On a small Scale, Edinburgh
‘Brush with colour’, Whitehouse Gallery, Kirkcudbright
Ross Art Gallery, Ireland, 2019
Royal Scottish Academy, (RSA) Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2018
Invited to join Singulart Gallery, Paris/London
2017 - 2015
RSA Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
The Art of Love, curated collection, Saatchi Art online
VAS(T) wall of jewels, VAS Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Macmillan Art Exhibition, Edinburgh
‘As the nights draw in’ Whitehouse Gallery, Kirkcudbright
SSA Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Lyon Turnbull, Sick Kids Foundation, Edinburgh
Arteries Art Gallery, Glasgow
Meffan Gallery Show, Forfar
3 Harbours Arts Festival, East Lothian
FLY, VAS Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Imago Mundi Scottish Collection ‘Myths/ reality’, Imago Mundi Foundation, Italy
‘Converge’, Visual Arts Scotland ( VAS ) exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Most recent Awards & Residencies:
Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award
Balavoulin Art Award
Cove Park Artist Residency
Royal Scottish Academy RSA) Keith Prize
University of London (UCL), Lady Belladonna Bursary
Memberships:
Vice - President of Visual Arts Scotland (VAS)
Visual Arts Scotland - professional member
Society of Scottish Artists (SSA)
The Artists Information Company (A-N)