Western Morning News (Saturday)
Landscape artist Julia draws praise on TV show
AGRADUATE of Plymouth College of Art is one of the competitors in a television programme to find the best landscape artists in the UK.
Julia Burley, who studied for a BA (Hons) in illustration at Plymouth College of Art, is competing in this year’s Landscape Artist of the Year series on Sky Arts.
The first episode, aired on January 13, saw artists including Julia head to Chartwell House, home to Winston Churchill for more than 40 years, to compete to win a £10,000 commission for a major British institution, as well as £500 worth of art materials and the honour of being crowned the nation’s best landscape artist.
Julia, 22, said: “I applied for Landscape Artist of the Year during my final year at Plymouth College of Art, using a drawing in one of my rough sketchbooks. It was an imaginary landscape, drawn from different pictures of tree species I was researching for my project on endangered birds of paradise. I had applied a few times before so I had not expected to get very far, but found out I had a place as a contestant a few months later!”
Artist of the Year is a television programme by Sky Arts, currently hosted by UK TV personalities Stephen Mangan and Joan Blackwell, which aims to find the best portrait and landscape painters in the UK.
Judged by curator and arts broadcaster Kate Bryan, head of contemporary art at the Fine Art Society; Kathleen Soriano, director of exhibitions at the Royal Academy, and portrait and landscape painter Tai-Shan Schierenberg, the UK professional and amateur artists are challenged to produce landscapes of different locations each week, with the final filmed and hosted by the National Portrait Gallery.
Julia said: “The experience was definitely one of the hardest artistic challenges I’ve ever had to face. The time limit and pressure of being watched by a crowd was very stressful at times and quite daunting at first, but I had a great time filming on the show and I really enjoyed myself.
“I particularly liked being able to talk to the other contestants, it was fascinating to see how differently we all perceived the same view.”
Plymouth College of Art subject leader on BA (Hons) Illustration, Sam Rowe said: “Julia couldn’t have been more suited to this! Considering her selfinitiated technical drawing classes for her peers, while she was at Plymouth College of Art, and her aptitude for expressive realism, it feels like a natural progression that she’d be on television doing just that.”
You can keep up to date with Julia’s illustrations via Instagram @juliarocciaart.