Julia Cox is an artist working in various media both as a painter and textile artist. She lives and works in London following twenty years in Norfolk and Sussex.
Julia studied woven textiles at Brighton and the Royal College of Art. After graduating in 1981 she received a Crafts Council grant to set up a design studio at a working mill in Somerset. Later on she moved to Cape Town where she designed woven furnishing fabrics for a large textile mill. After several years she returned to London working as a design consultant on international colour and trend forecasting.
Since then Julia has worked as a freelance artist and designer and her work has evolved in a more painterly direction, her understanding of colour and the complex processes that make up the construction of fabric still informs her practice today.
Her work is semi abstract, derived by the forms, colours and textures of the landscape she encounters. Reflecting on the experience of a place, leaving a visual impression of its significant characteristics is what principally inspires her work.
As a student she travelled widely, hitch hiking in Europe and North Africa where the landscapes and cultures have had an enduring influence on her work. Travelling abroad with her illustrator husband has also provided rich source material for her work.
Using a batik process she has developed her own unique method of working with fine papers instead of its traditional use on fabric. With the wax resist technique she prepares a pallet of interesting textured and coloured papers that are then used to design the image.
By preparing the painted papers beforehand there is a freedom in assembling a collage in this way. The vibrantly coloured papers gradually build up a patina of overlapping richness, their transparency and torn irregular edges makes an image translucent and intriguing.