Exhibits & Gallery Representation
Osceola Arts, Kissimmee Juried- CREATIVA: WOMAN MADE ART SHOW- March 2-May 3 2024 Selected “Florida Woodlands”
Indian River Clay Form + Fire Juried Contemporary Clay Exhibit, Vero Beach March 1-22, 2024
Art League of Daytona Beach Member’s Award Exhibit 3rd Place Award
Mount Dora Center for Arts Juried -Viva La Frida 2023 Honorable Mention Award
SOBO Gallery, Winter Garden, Jury selected APRIL, MAY & JUNE 2023
ART EXPRESSIONS-Melbourne, Florida - Featured Artist 2018- Present
· Unusual Frida Juried Art Show Leu Gardens in Orlando Florida and Osceola Performing Arts 2023
· SOBO Gallery, Winter Garden, Jury selected Dec-2022- Jan 2023
· Daytona Art League 2022-Annual Awards Exhibit- Award of Distinction for “Love at First Sight”
· SOBO Gallery, Winter Garden, Florida Jury Selected for Exhibits Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov 2022.
· SOBO Gallery, Winter Garden, Florida 2022 Merit Award for ”Looking for Love.”
· NONI’S at the Olive Branch, Mount Dora, Florida 2022-Present
· Studio Art Farm Gallery, Mount Dora. Florida 2021
· SOBO Gallery, Winter Gardens, Florida - Featured Artist - Wild Show April 1-31, 2017
· Florida Craftsmen Gallery- St Petersburg, Florida 2015-2017
· Knowledge Exchange, Palm Bay Florida- Sculpture installation "Circle of Love" 2014
· Casselberry Art House- Recycle Art Exhibit 2014 - 1st Place 3-D, 2nd Place 2-D Awards.
· Orlando Folk Art Festival Feb 2014
· City Arts Factory- Orlando FL Juried Exhibit Nov-Dec 2013
· 100% Pure Florida 2013 -The Fifth Ave Gallery Melbourne, FL
· Florida Sculptors Guild Member Casselberry, Florida 2013
· Gallery on First - Studio Artist, Sanford FL 2012, 2013
· Kissimmee Sculpture Experience Installation 2011-2012 - Awarded Judges Choice
· Art Fusion Gallery - Salute to ART BASEL - Miami, FL - Juried- 2012
· Art Fusion Galleries- Fusion IX- Seducing the Globe - Juried 2012
· The Gate House Gallery, Mount Dora, FL, 2012-2013
· Annual Mount Dora Art Festival - February 2012 - Juried Art Festival
· Nude Night Orlando Juried 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.
· Up Town Art Expo - Art and Music Festival February 2012 - Judges Choice Award
· Love Your Shorts Film Festival Award- Designer 2011- 2024
· South Lake Hospital-Clermont Fl - Permanent Metal Wall Art Installation- 2011
· Oh! Juried Exhibit Orlando Museum of Art . 2011
· Orlando Arts Magazine Featured Artist 2011
· Art Affair Gallery Sanford, Florida - Earth to Metal Solo Exhibit 2010
· Orlando Museum of Art Juried - Alternative Surface Art 2009
· Orlando Museum of Art - Solo Exhibit 2009 All Metal Art
· Orlando Museum of Art Sculpture Show – Juried - 2008
· Orlando Museum of Art May 2008 Rock, Paper Scissor -Award-Florida Artist of the Month
· Orlando Museum of Art Juried Sept 2008 Wings of Peace -Award- Florida Artist of the Month
· Matriarchs & Madonna’s SE Regional Juried Exhibition Mosaic Award 2008
· Wright Patterson Air Force Base-Nightingale House in Dayton, Ohio- Bronze Sculpture Installation.
PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS
· BOOMER Guide Magazine 2020, Brevard County, FL Featured Artists
· Sanford Herald Artist Spotlight, Feb 5, 2014
· Pulse Magazine- Lake County, Florida Featured Feb. 2013
· Orlando Arts Magazine Featured Artist 2011
· Sanford Herald Love Your Shorts Film Festival Artist 2011
JUDEGES COMMENTS: 2024 Art League of Daytona Beach “Annual Members’ Awards Exhibit” - Comments by Judge Nancy Baur Dillen, B.A., M.F.A. 3RD PLACE “The Gift” by Julie Kessler
This painting really speaks to me because I love rich colors and invented textures. Plus, the whole piece was developed from the artist’s imagination. The longer I looked at the piece the more I realized the subject is a contemporary depiction of a mother and child like in many of the Renaissance paintings of the mother Mary, the Christ child and John the Baptist. Christ is usually depicted reaching out and offering something to John. Often birds and animals are included in the composition. In this painting there are a variety of birds and animals ranging from chickens, small birds like humming birds, frogs, and cats. A basket of oranges sits as an offering. The centralized mother figure has a halo around her head created from feathery pointed leaves alternating with fertile, flowers with long, leafy stems. Looking at the mother’s eyes, a tired, sad feeling is revealed as she protects her child. In the background on the viewer’s right, a series of undulating organic vertical forms dotted with stylized flowers is located in the center of each.
Color-wise, each image has rich textures and either a range of warm/cool complementary colors as seen on the little girl’s dress, or analogous colors as seen in the body of the green-headed chicken. The body is composed of red, purple and blue colors accented with a warm complementary colored red/green chicken head. The overall red background really causes the colors to pop and sing.