Art Exhibit: "The Idea of Color" by Julia Kottal

"The Idea of Color": 2^nd Floor Gallery

Julia Kottal is a true painter’s painter. Her love of the medium and the action of painting shows in the work—the effortless blending of pigments and the deliberate, yet unrestrained gestural marks. “The ‘Idea of Color’  is powerful”, she says. “Communication between the color and the composition are so important to me. I see color next to each other as blocks or shapes (like stained glass or quilting) and how I develop those shapes into the composition is vital. How the hues converse with each other is how I proceed.” The completion of the painting is dictated by an emotional call and response with the artist. They are tethered, coexisting, responding to one another.

Julia is a native mid-westerner born in Michigan. She studied art in Florida, Maryland and California before moving to Iowa in 1992. She has a B.A., with painting as her emphasis, from Coe College. Her work has been exhibited nationally and found in private and public collections including Alliant Energy, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Coe College, Miami University, Millhiser Smith, Terry Lockridge and Dunn, and United Fire Group, among others. Her works are characterized by the loose interpretation of the landscape as abstract oil on canvas and watercolor on paper. She is currently a full-time artist.

www.gildedpeargallery.com/the-idea-of-color