BIOGRAPHY

Julie Seidman was raised in Spring Valley, NY. She holds a BFA from Pratt Institute and a MA from New York University. As a child, she grew up near extended woods and this experience formed the nucleus of her creative interests for the rest of her life. In the 1960s and ‘70s, Rockland County was filled with areas that were deforested for the development of suburban housing. The abrupt passing of the local green areas affected her deeply, spurring a live-long advocacy for ecology and animal rights. A vegan for many years, Seidman curated an art exhibition in 2018, in conjunction with the organization, Jewish Veg, called Through Compassionate Eyes: Artist call for Animal Rights at Charter Oak in Hartford Ct.

 

Her works employ the traditional medium of watercolor, sometimes tempered with colored pencil, in surprising, beautiful and disturbing ways. As we live in a time of impending ecological disaster, Seidman has adjusted traditional ideas concerning landscape to incorporate hard truths about the ecosystem that may look surreal or fantasy oriented but is in fact rooted in truth. Lush forest scenes where flora and fauna intermingle, are willfully juxtaposed with man-made detritus; sometimes directly tied to or placed in the vicinity of the surrounding wildlife. These potentially disturbing images reflect an unnerving quiet and strangely joyful mood intended to convey a reverence about nature even in these difficult times, even as mass species extinctions and global warming have become the norm.

 

Seidman has traveled widely in Europe and Asia. She lived in China for a year where she was influenced by Chinese brush painting and the willful spilling and pooling of ink that occurs in that traditional medium. She wedded this with her interests in the great American tradition of watercolor artists like John Singer Sergeant, Winslow Homer and Charles Burchfield. The demands of the medium, even when it is used spontaneously, means that there can be very few second chances or cover ups. Watercolors are transparent by their nature, and a large, four-foot watercolor demands great technical prowess, as the margin of error is relatively narrow.

 

Ms. Seidman has lived in Northern New Jersey for over twenty years. Her works often begin with long walks on park trails, where her ideas frequently come together on the spot, but evolve using traditional sketching techniques, computer imaging, and finally a very free and spontaneous painterly studio practice. She has been married to the painter Joel Silverstein for over 30 years. Her son, Jacob, is a toy designer and lives on the West Coast.