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May Issue 2008
Plum Elements in Charleston, SC, Features
Works by Julie Goldstein
Plum Elements in Charleston, SC, will present the exhibit, For You, I Adore, featuring new works by Julie Goldstein, on view from May 2 through July 6, 2008.
One of the first things noticed about Julie Goldstein's wood block prints is the subject matter: strong, confident, grounded women - the kind of quiet confidence that attracts. Often autobiographical, much of her art draws inspiration from the natural environment, the sea and surf culture.
Many of her images are surfers, as she herself is a year-round surfer off Montauk. While traveling it's not uncommon for Goldstein to have a block of pine wood in her bag, so she can sketch what she sees. On paper and fabric, she mixes lithographic and woodcut printmaking techniques with sewing, embroidery, and other traditional "women's arts" - the result is a contemporary, hybrid-style. The energy of Goldstein's images and large format literally stopped Plum Elements' owner, Andrea Schenck in the street. At first glance, Schenck knew she wanted Goldstein's work to be included in what would become Plum Elements. "It's thrilling to have a show for Julie," said Schenck, since her work has been part of Plum's offerings, since opening almost two years ago.
The large format barely holds the obvious energy required in her technique and most of the subject matter. Explaining her process, Goldstein said, "I practice a physically intensive form of woodblock printing closely related to the ancient Japanese techniques. I load my woodcuts with oil-based inks and use a wooden spoon to hand burnish the print substrate over the plate." Typically, she prints on rice or heavy cotton rag papers in editions of three. For this show, images are on paper, fabric, wood, and canvas created with multiple techniques including woodblock printmaking, drawing, and painting. The large scale, hand burnished, woodcut prints are a sharp contrast to the found fabrics and traditional sewing techniques that she combines in her work.
Printing on found fabrics emerged from Goldstein's interest in exploring the juxtaposition of traditional masculine and feminine roles. Using thrift store fabrics as substrates for printing and embroidery plays with the gender-based categories such as "women's work" when combined with the intense and masculine physicality of her process - with jigsaws, carving tools, plywood, etc. Far from antagonistic, Goldstein says, "This new body of work is an ironic, playful form of devotion, honoring the beautifully stitched handwork of my mother and grandmother." Her latest series employs personal storytelling and explores gender roles of women in contemporary society along with other varied subject matter. Inspired by fearless women she observed in Central America and contrasting with women she observes in the US, this work focuses on empowerment, protection, independence, and motherhood.
Other influences on Goldstein's work include German Expressionist printmakers and illustrators of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century, specifically their approach to rendering the figure with forced perspective and variable proportions. Goldstein explained, "The dynamic revival in postwar printmaking initiated by Antonio Frasconi influenced my affinity for bold images, vibrant colors and the marked evidence of process and the hand (i.e. variations in printing, strongly grained wooden plates, and spoon marks)."
This will be Goldstein's first show in the Lowcountry. Her work has exhibited in museums and galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Australia, Brazil and Japan. Her BFA from the University of Connecticut at Storrs included a semester in Florence. She also completed an independent study of printmaking and bookbinding at Arizona State University. Her MA is from the Columbia University Teachers College in New York. Goldstein was selected in 2007 to participate in Virgin Mobile USA's RE*Generation Gallery benefiting homeless youth and The Happening art/film/music festivals in Newport Beach, CA, and New York City. Her work has appeared in Charleston Magazine (2007), Surfer Girl Magazine (2005), the website (www.Daily Candy.com). She has received honors from the Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts and the Printmaking Council of New Jersey. She lives and works on the barrier island Long Beach Island, NJ.
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