Geraldine Kelly
Residency period: 8th August – 2nd September 2023
Geraldine Kelly was our Artist in Residence in 2022 and 2023, running a wonderful range ofworkshops on wool-making, weaving and spinning.
During 'Follow The furzedown Fleece' in 2022 Geraldine and her friends from Vauxhall City Farm took a raw fleece and turned it into wool.
In 2023's 'A Spell of Weaving Magic' she working on the loom - including building different types of looms, with fun activities, workshops and exhibitions featuring textiles, tapestries and weaving skills.
The local community enjoyed participating in each stage of these traditional activities. Friends from the Vauxhall City Farm Spinners and the London Guild of Spinners and Weavers joined Geraldine working in Sprout with drop-in sessions on carding and drop spinning and working on spinning wheels. Also workshops to learn how to make string out of foraged materials, making yarns, dyes and tapestry weaving techniques.
You might know her as “Julie from Balham ” from BBC Radio London where she is a regular contributor to the Jo Good show on weekday afternoons; or you might have read about her in “Country Life” this month where she is highlighted as one of the six artists to look out for in the recent Affordable Art Fair. . . . but for the month of August Julie Sullock was the Artist in Residence at Sprout Gallery on Moyser Road in Furzedown.
Before we even mention her artwork let us continue to explain what kind of artist we were lucky to have: as a printmaker she is a founder member of Southbank Printmakers and a member of the Printmakers' Council. Julie is a printmaker, painter and teacher who combines media, mixing etching with screen printing; and more recently combining etching with watercolour to achieve more subtle colour effects. She lists Klee, Kandinsky, Bonnard, Albert Irvin and Sargy Mann as influences on her work.
Born and bred in south London she comes from a family of creatives and also follows her second passion “gardening” working as a freelance artist for Chelsea Physic Garden, Wisley RHS and Brockwell Community Garden.
Julie used her intuitive response to her surroundings whilst working in Furzedown; initially producing sketches and watercolour studies to take into larger scale paintings and collages. There was also the opportunity for anyone planning a staycation in Furzedown to visit her in the studio and to pick up a postcard to make their own artwork.
"I have exhibited twice at the Sprout Galley with the 'Print Six group' and have enjoyed meeting and talking to people in the local community who visit the gallery. The residency will be an opportunity to make some larger work and to have the freedom to experiment with using prints to maybe make some collages. The views from the windows, the buildings will influence my work, as my surroundings usually influences my work, even if it is subconsciously. The Gallery is wonderfully light, and light, colour and composition have always been important aspects to my work. It has always intrigued me - the way that some colours recede and some colours jump out at the viewer and also how different colours react with each other, and I hope to build on that. I have been inspired by the work of Turner and his use of light and colour especially in his watercolours, that I have looked at for many years." - Julie
To see her work visit her website on www.juliasullock.com
or follow her on instagram @juliasullock