Spring Flowers

BIO:
Julee Richardson received a B.S. in Art Education from SUNY Buffalo and spent a year abroad, studying at Instituto Statale D’Art “Duccio Di Buoninsegna” Siena, Italy. After moving to Northern California and years in Academia she returned to the fine arts after retirement. Her return to the visual arts was through sculpture, her first love.
Julee Richardson is a respected ceramic sculptor showing throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work is dominated by two distinct thematic images.
The faces of the “diaspora,” and those who remained behind. She sees these works as “Art that Breathes,” the expressiveness of each piece implores us to see and feel.
Her most recent artistic sculptures have been “Steampunk Assemblage Art,” that delights and highlights her unique creativity.
Included here are some Juried shows, featured artist exhibits and publications. “Geared up” Steampunk Show, Delta Gallery; “Visions in Clay,” JH Horton Jr. Gallery; “Sonoma Invitational,” Arts Guild of Sonoma; “Social Constructs,” JH Horton Jr. Gallery; “Go Figure,” Invitational Show, Black Bean Gallery; “Illuminations,” Blackhawk Gallery; “Visions In Clay,” JH Horton Jr. Gallery; “Inspirations” Delta Gallery; “About Face,” Plaza Arts Center. “Black Art Matters” cover story and featured artist East Bay Express, Independent Newspaper; Lark Books “500 Raku.” She is also a recipient of the Jan Hart Schuyers Award for Sculpture TAOLB Exhibit.

Artist Statement:
I am a sculptor. When I begin a new piece, inspiration washes over me, like ocean waves, sometimes overpowering, but always creative. The full range of that experience is on exhibit in this show.
My ceramic masks are inspired by the Omo River Valley people, who each day use their face and bodies as a blank canvas to create magnificent works of art.
The figurative ceramic pieces are unapologetically representational. They are sculptural narratives of someone’s sister, daughter, mother, son or friend, often vulnerable and in the crosshairs.
The post fire, ceramic assemblage art, like my Steampunk pieces are joyful and a romp through the playground of my imagination. “Steampunk Assemblage Art,” is retro futuristic. It incorporates 19th century mechanically powered machinery with all its gears, screw and levers into something new. My “Brass Menagerie Collection,” and “Steampunk Dolls,” reaffirm the notion that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as each one celebrates its unique charm.
As a visual artist I am compelled to create. And so, a small part of me becomes visible for the world to see.
My hope, of course, is that the work will be read as it was intended. That it will be appreciated as a new and glorious creation in the world of art.