About the artist

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For many years Julia divided time between her role as Reader in Documentary Drawing at Liverpool School of Art & Design, LJMU, and as a practising artist / printmaker in her Cheshire studio.

Since retirement her professional practice has continued.

 

Julia is a Printmaker and Reportage artist.

 

Limited editions of original prints, in this case etchings and aquatints, are made on zinc plates and printed in the studio before being exhibited across the UK and beyond. The idiosyncratic images are filled with diverse characters sourced from daily observation seek to entertain and intrigue.

The editions are made in small numbers each one printed by hand. Often the more complicated images are accompanied by an illustrated identifying key.

 

As a reportage artist Julia Midgley’s drawings have recorded working life from office blocks to operating theatres. These include drawing a kidney transplant from mother to son; witnessing excavation of mutilated sacrificial skeletons at Stonehenge; drawing in flight life saving medicine on board an EH101 Merlin Helicopter; drawing recovering soldiers after devastating injury in Afghanistan; and serving as Artist in Residence to numerous organisations including Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital Trust.

 

Julia is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers (R.E.) and The Royal Watercolour Society, (RWS); member of Reportager; an Affiliate Member of the Medical Artists Association; and Fellow and Trustee of Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (past VP).

 

The recipient of national awards for drawing, painting, and printmaking, her works are regularly exhibited at the RA Summer Exhibition, particularly the etchings.

 

Conference papers have been presented at conferences worldwide whilst five publications about her documentary residencies have been published.