Julie Seaward — Time and Strangers

Grand Rapids, Michigan, artist Julie Seaward shares her thoughts on experiencing new cities and what draws her to these places. Her tenacious ability to experience reality is seen through her captivating oil paintings in contrast with her amusing images of strangers being strangers. An artist you need to know.

Artist, Julie Seaward, in studio

KARDIA: What is the greatest duty of an artist? 

JULIE SEAWARD: I wouldn’t want to speak for anyone else, but I think art-making gives us an opportunity to examine the world critically or just differently.  

Beihei Selfie Girl

Pictures With Strangers

K: What does your creative routine look like? Do you have a certain schedule you like to stick to?

JS: I carry around a sketch book that I will undoubtedly end up losing or spilling coffee on, but they are always just the starting point to draft thumbnail compositions, storyboards and concepts. Some people have beautiful sketchbooks that truly are works of art themselves with detailed drawings and watercolors, thoughtful monologues, haikus. Mine are really just bare-bones and ugly gestural layouts with wordy descriptions when I get too lazy to sketch an idea out. I had to stop buying Moleskins because the content I’m putting in there just isn’t worth it. From there I will take that onto the canvas or computer. I like to work on multiple projects at the same time for balance, and just so I am not literally “sitting around waiting for the paint to dry,” I’ll work on digital art between oil paint layers. 

K: What kinds of things outside of your art making routine bring inspiration to your life?

 
JS: I am inspired by new cities and people-watching. Pictures of Strangers has become a side project I developed from traveling and finding so many people and moments interesting that I didn’t want to forget. Either they are wearing a killer outfit, or a man is picking dog poop out of a woman’s shoe. People are fascinating, from a distance, and that energizes me, hopefully that doesn’t come off as creepy as it sounds.Broadly I am interested in how cultural identities shift in emerging economies, if traditions can be preserved, and on a much smaller scale how we in consumerist cultures use everyday items to shape our own identities.

Things That Float

Oil on Canvas

K: Which artist are you in awe of, and why?

JS: There are too many to count. Julie Mehretu’s paintings are visually stunning. I like how Cai Guo-Qiang integrates ancient Chinese culture into his process. I saw Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled” when I was young and almost walked past it. Exhibiting a slowly diminishing candy pile to show the impermanence of life really struck me. Although, I don’t think art has to be heavily conceptual to be memorable. Something as simple as Stingel’s bright orange carpet at the MCA and everyone’s immediate visceral response of pure joy. Anyone who creates something I’m still thinking about after 15 years, because they are looking at something in an unexpected way, or in a way I never have, I’m in awe.

Things That Float II

Oil on Canvas

K: What is the biggest challenge you face as an artist? 

JS: Time.

K: What is one challenge that quarantine has placed into your life that turned out to be a growing or beautiful experience?

JS: Quarantine or not, my partner and I would probably be staying in working on art either way, so the transition to quarantining on a surface-level is much easier for naturally introverted people like me. However, the initial onset of the pandemic kickstarted my drive and need to dig into areas of my life I had been delaying and ignoring.  

Middle Finger

Pictures with Strangers

K: How do you navigate your way through a creative block? Any tips for other artists struggling with finding a flow or inspiration? 

JS: I would literally insert myself into a place that inspires me. For me that’s the energy I gain from traveling to a new and vibrant city.

Cute Men

Pictures with Strangers

K: Describe the first moment that you truly felt like an artist? Was there a turning point in your life that you integrated being an artist into your identity? 

JS; I like to make art, create, take photos, but for some reason “artist” makes me cringe. If I can get over associating it with pretension that could potentially be the turning point.

Supreme

Oil on Canvas

K: Are there new countries you'd be interested in experiencing in particular? What specifically draws you to these areas?

JS: When things calm down and it’s safer to travel I’ll be going to S. Korea. For obvious personal reasons, but also because I am fascinated by how they took off from being one of the poorest countries a few decades ago to now --- the 12th largest economy in the world (I think). In large part due to exporting their culture “soft power” (among other things). Budapest is one of my favorite cities as a visitor because the remnants of its Soviet past still, to use a really cliché art word, “juxtapose” everything else.  I think anywhere with an emerging economy and disinterested youth draws me. 

K: Things That Float is part of a concept you've been exploring even in your earlier works. What are these paintings focusing on conceptually?

JS: Broadly I am interested in how cultural identities shift in emerging economies and whether or not traditions can be preserved, or if anyone cares. With that, I like to think about how we in consumerist countries use everyday items to shape our own identities. We have an endless array of objects at our fingertips that we can purchase to change our moods and how we curate ourselves. People’s perceptions of us change by something as simple as switching out a pair of shoes.  

Untitled

Oil on Canvas

K: How has the art community in Grand Rapids shown up for you as an artist? Are there any areas that could be improved for artists and viewers?

JS: I think it’s really cool that there are opportunities to show work around town either in pop-up spots or established venues. I would say the dominant culture of West Michigan is not totally sold on supporting original artwork yet.

K: What do you like most about sharing your work, either online or in person? 

JS: It’s always a risk when you spend time on something and share it with the world, but I like that it can spark conversation or connection--- when someone says, “I’m interested in that stuff too.”

Kitty

Oil on Canvas

K: How have you grown the most in the past year? 

JS: I don’t think anyone is going through 2020 and not personally growing, I hope. I have spent a good portion of this year connecting with other Korean adoptees who’ve experienced the world just like me. Learning more about myself and my community is informing how I create in some way or another. 

K: What advice or information would you give your younger college art student self that you wish you'd known at that time of your life?

JS: Art student or not, I would tell a younger person to take bigger risks.

Shanghai Shop Sleep

Pictures With Strangers