Julia Einstein: Raleigh City Farm's Artist in Residence
Julia Einstein MAT 91 is the inaugural Artist in Residence at Raleigh City Farm, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She developed the program as a way to see the art of making, growing and learning through the eyes of an artist.
This urban farm has been transformed into a source of inspiration, its growing season aligned with the creative process. The resulting body of work, paintings of flowers harvested at the farm, is a visual expression of what it means to be alive in the garden. This experience is shared with the community via educational workshops for all ages to discover the art in the farm’s ecosystem, to learn the techniques of observation and exploration and to visit the spot with a curated artist’s garden grown in collaboration with the farm manager.
The wider community on social media follows the artistic practice, from farm to easel. A visit to the studio of Julia Einstein is like walking into a garden room with an artist’s eye on nature in vivid compositions, elegant arrangements and painterly surfaces. A series called “Flower Portraits” of bouquets gathered by hand, and “Modern Botanicals” informed by the 19th century trailblazers who furthered the field of botany with their art, traveled to the summer exhibition at Portland Art Gallery, in Portland, Maine. The Durham based company Spoonflower will translate the artist’s original art into table settings for the annual Harvest Dinner Gala at Raleigh City Farm. A very special aspect of the program is the support of Jerry’s Artarama's flagship Raleigh store.
From Julia Einstein:
“Raleigh City Farm is transformed into inspiration for me, its growing season is aligned with my creative process. The result will be a series of paintings inspired by the flowers harvested at the farm—a visual expression of what it means to be alive in the garden! An exhibition of a selection of these paintings will be on view at Portland Art Gallery, in Portland, Maine, through the month of July 2022. The experience will be shared with the community as I am happy to provide educational workshops for all ages to discover the art in this ecosystem, learn how to observe, draw, and explore the techniques of a painter of flowers. I’ve also become an ‘avant gardener’ in a spot dedicated to growing a curated artist’s garden in collaboration with the farm manager. The wider community is invited to be social, to see the creative process happen in the artist’s studio @juliaeinstein, and to posts photos of their own visits to the farm and participation in workshops with the tag #artistRCF. A big thrill is the opportunity to work with the Durham based company, Spoonflower, as they capture my original designs and translate them into Spoonflower dinner napkins for the annual Harvest Dinner at Raleigh City Farm for which I will take on the role of floral designer in creating artful tablescapes. A very special aspect of the program was in meeting the folks at Raleigh Jerry’s Artarama. I was thrilled when they agreed to underwrite the program.”
