Julie Evans Eating Sunshine presented by the Boca Raton Museum of Art

The Boca Raton Museum of Art is hosting a new exhibition titled "Julie Evans: Eating Sunshine" from June 12 to October 20. This marks the first time the acclaimed New York artist's latest ceramic sculptures are being showcased by a museum alongside her paintings.

Julie Evans Eating Sunshine, on view June 12 - October 20, presented by the Boca Raton Museum of Art

The exhibition "Eating Sunshine" aligns with a period when the Sun's magnetic poles are about to reverse, and Earth is experiencing heightened solar activity. This period is marked by an impressive display of solar phenomena, with increased magnetic energy leading to more frequent solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

The exhibition's title, "Eating Sunshine," captures the artist's fascination with plants and organisms that depend on the Sun's energy and nourishment for survival.

?“While geared towards efficiency and survival, these interrelated systems of nature here on Earth and on our Sun share extraordinary power, logic, elegance, and beauty that is far beyond what we can see or understand,” says Julie Evans. 

Photo credit: (left) Root Ribbon 1, Julie Evans. Ink and gouache on clayboard (2019). 

Photo credit: (right) Iris, Julie Evans. Ink and gouache on wood (2019). 

See the NOAA video below

Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing, Julie Evans, glazed ceramic (2023)

These sculptures represent a bold, recent departure in her 30-year career, as Evans embraces ceramics to delve deeper into her fascination with the wonders of nature.

Eating Sunshine is curated by Kathleen Goncharov, the Senior Curator of the Museum, and includes 48 pieces (24 ceramics displayed alongside 24 paintings, works on paper, and assemblages on mylar).

Both her two-dimensional and three-dimensional works radiate rich, saturated colors and overflow with biomorphic, organic forms.

Photo credit: (left) Naturelab, Julie Evans. Ink, acrylic, colored pencil on pencil on masonite (2018). 

Photo credit: (right) Root Ribbon 1, Julie Evans. Ink and gouache on clayboard (2019). 

Julie Evans's journey from Chelsea to Hudson and south Florida debut

Born in New York City, Julie Evans was a pioneer of the Chelsea art scene in the early 1990s. Many years later, Evans became part of the current wave of artists transforming upstate Hudson, New York into an art destination, where her studio has flourished since 2011.

This marks her first exhibition in South Florida. Throughout her career, Evans has received several prominent residencies that have influenced her artmaking, including a Fulbright Scholarship to India, as well as creative fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, Ucross, Millay, and Tamarind Institute.

Her works are featured in over 300 public and private collections, including the Rubin Museum of Art, the United States Art in Embassies Program, and the collections of Microsoft, JP Morgan-Chase, and Pfizer.

Kathleen Goncharov's curatorial insights into Julie Evans' work stem from a relationship that has spanned more than 30 years.

The two originally met in the early 1990s while working together at the New School in New York, and Goncharov has closely followed Evans' artistic journey over the past three decades.

"Julie Evans finds inspiration in the structures and patterns of the materials from nature that she observes," says Kathleen Goncharov, Senior Curator of the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

"Her works are imbued with penetrating colors and bold forms. Like nature, her art is both macro and micro, expansive and abstract, bursting with life in intricate detail. Evans' intent is for the viewer to engage slowly and observe the incredible variety of forms, shapes, colors, and exquisite details found in her paintings and sculptures," adds Kathleen Goncharov.

Watch the PBS TV video tour of Julie Evans' artist studio in Hudson, NY below

Photo credit: (left) Princess Padmavati, ca. 1765 (public domain image).

Photo credit: (right) Woman Holding Fireworks, ca. 19th century (public domain image).

From paint to ceramics, influenced by Indian miniature painting

In her paintings and two-dimensional works, Evans shapes nebulous forms from poured pools of paint, with arabesques curling in and out, extending toward the edges of the surface.

Some sections dissolve into the surrounding atmosphere, blurring the lines between solid and non-solid appearances.

In contrast, her ceramic sculptures stand alone, distinct from their surrounding space.

As complete three-dimensional forms, the ceramics do not rely on atmospheric support like the shapes in her paintings.

Navigating the difference between her paintings and sculptures, and reaching the point where both can be exhibited together in a museum, is the central journey of this exhibition for Evans.

The artist is also renowned for the detail in her work. Over a 15-year period, Evans traveled to India numerous times to study Indian miniature painting techniques.

This significantly influenced the attention to detail evident in her art today.

The roots of Indian miniature painting date back to the Buddhist Pala dynasty, from the 8th to the 11th century.

This technique is known for its incredible detail, encapsulated within each tiny canvas frame. Historically, these works were meant to be viewed by one person at a time, up close.

Evans traveled to India in the 1990s and 2000s. She was awarded an Artist’s Residency Fellowship to Sanskriti Kendra in New Delhi in 1997.

Additionally, as part of the Fulbright Senior Research Grant for Painting awarded in 2003, Evans lived and worked as an artist in India and Nepal for eight months.

Uniting paintings and sculptures in a museum display

Photo credit: (left) Phantom Blooms, Julie Evans. Glazed ceramic (2024). Courtesy of Edna Cardinale.

Photo credit: (right) Suction, Julie Evans. Ink, acrylic, gouache on clayboard (2020).