Julia Sorrell

{{short description|British artist (born 1955)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Julia Sorrell''' (born 4 August 1955, in [[Westcliff-on-Sea]], [[Essex]]) is a [[List of British artists|British artist]] known for her portraits and imaginative drawings and paintings using figures and natural forms such as wood, shells, rock and plants using a range of media from pencil, charcoal, pen & ink, pastel, watercolour and oil.<ref>"Wood Wonders" in ''Tree News'' Issue 11 Spring/Summer 2006: p. 51</ref><ref>"A Second Look at Natural Forms" by Julia Sorrell, ''The Artist'' Vol. 122 No. 7 July 2007 916 pp. 37–39</ref><ref>"A dream of a portrait" by Julia Sorrell, ''The Artist'' Vol. 126 No. 12 Nov. 2011 pp. 51–53</ref> She lives in [[Oxfordshire]] and exhibits in London at the [[Mall Galleries]] as a member of the [[Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours]].

==Early life== Sorrell was born in [[Westcliff-on-Sea]], [[Essex]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juliasorrell.ukartists.com/index_files/chronology.htm |title=Julia Sorrell RI |publisher=ukartists.com |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/julia-sorrell |title=Julia Sorrell (b. 1955) |publisher=royalacademy.org.uk |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> the daughter of the artist [[Alan Sorrell]] (1904–1974)<ref>[http://www.alansorrell.ukartists.com Alan Sorrell]</ref><ref>"Alan Sorrell: The Man who created Roman Britain" by Julia Sorrell in British Archaeology No.127 Nov/Dec 2012 pp. 26–7</ref> and the [[Watercolor painting|watercolourist]] [[Elizabeth Sorrell (painter)|Elizabeth Sorrell]] (1916–1991).<ref>[http://www.elizabethsorrell.ukartists.com Elizabeth Sorrell]</ref> She grew up in a converted chapel in [[Daws Heath]], southeast Essex, surrounded by trees and woodlands which were to be an inspiration for her later work.<ref>"An Artist's memories of a living wood" by Julia Sorrell Living Woods No 20, Jan/Feb 2012 pp. 20–21,</ref><ref>[http://frontpage.woodland-trust.org.uk/ancient-tree-forum/atfgallery/galleryartists/juliasorrell/julia.htm Woodland trust – Ancient Tree Forum: Julia Sorrell] ''Ancient Tree Forum''. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426164512/http://frontpage.woodland-trust.org.uk/ancient-tree-forum/atfgallery/galleryartists/juliasorrell/julia.htm |date=2012-04-26 }}</ref><ref>[http://saveourwoods.co.uk/get-involved/love-trees/an-appreciation-of-trees-by-julia-sorrell/ Save Our Woods: An Appreciation of Trees by Julia Sorrell]</ref>

==Career== She studied textiles and embroidery under [[Constance Howard (artist)|Constance Howard]] MBE at [[Goldsmiths' College]] (1973–6) who purchased her work to use as examples in talks and publications.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vads.ac.uk/flarge.php?uid=34444&sos=0 |title=Goldsmiths Textile Collection and Constance Howard Gallery: Julia Sorrell |access-date=2013-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032444/http://www.vads.ac.uk/flarge.php?uid=34444&sos=0 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Howard, C. (1984), ''Twentieth-century Embroidery in Great Britain 1964–77:003''</ref> She was taught drawing by [[Ada Swanwick|Betty Swanwick]] RA (who was to produce the artwork for albums by rock group [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]]), and she sold her first work at the [[Royal Academy Summer Exhibition]] at the age of 19. Following the death of her father, she turned more towards drawing and painting, and gained a place at the [[Royal Academy of Arts]](1978–81). Whilst a student there her self-portrait gained second prize in the first [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]] Portrait Award, 1980, now known as the [[BP Portrait Award]].<ref>The Portrait Award 1980–89: Ten Years of the John Player Portrait Award by William Packer, published by the National Portrait Gallery 1992</ref> This led to a series of portrait commissions including one from the National Portrait Gallery to paint [[Michael Ramsey]], the ex-[[Archbishop of Canterbury]].<ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07975/julia-sorrell National Portrait Gallery: Julia Sorrell]</ref> Her letters describing this experience were borrowed by Michael Ramsey's biographer [[Owen Chadwick]]<ref>[[Owen Chadwick|Chadwick, O.]] (1990), ''Michael Ramsey, A Life'', Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]] p. 394</ref> who then passed them on to the library of [[Lambeth Palace]].

In the 1990s she exhibited at the Maas Gallery with the dealer [[Rupert Maas]], and had a series of paintings purchased by the collector Professor [[Philip Rieff]] which were then exhibited at the [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]] in 1996. A decade later she was exhibiting with Waterhouse and Dodd, [[Cork Street]].

She was elected a member of the [[Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours]] in 2008, the [[Royal Society of British Artists]] in 2009, and the [[Norwich Twenty Group]] in 2010. In 2015 she was awarded the first TravelArt Award from the ACE Foundation [[ACE Cultural Tours]], and asked to go to Orkney to produce an exhibition of work under the title: “Wild and Ancient Orkney”. The work concentrated on the coastal landscape features and archaeology, and was exhibited first at [[Abbott and Holder]], in London (2016),<ref>https://www.abbottandholder-thelist.co.uk/julia-sorrell-orkney/</ref> and then at the [[McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research]], Cambridge. For the final exhibition at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge [[ACE Cultural Tours]], Julia produced her unique over 2m tall hand-embroidered sculpture “Reverence” using hand spun Orkney wool. Her work is also in the collections of the [[Beecroft Art Gallery]], the [[Chelmsford Museum]], [[Reading Museum]], [[New Hall Art Collection]]<ref>[http://www.art.newhall.cam.ac.uk/the-collection/by/artist/id/334/name/Julia+Sorrell New Hall Art Collection: Julia Sorrell]</ref> and [[Laporte plc]].

Her work is in the collections of the [[Beecroft Art Gallery]], the [[Chelmsford Museum]], [[Reading Museum]], [[New Hall Art Collection]],<ref>[http://www.art.newhall.cam.ac.uk/the-collection/by/artist/id/334/name/Julia+Sorrell New Hall Art Collection: Julia Sorrell]</ref> [[Laporte plc]], The ACE Foundation at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge [[ACE Cultural Tours]], The [[McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research]], Cambridge and [[Clare Hall, Cambridge]].

==Writings== She has written articles frequently about her own work and that of her father [[Alan Sorrell]] for [[The Artist (UK magazine)|The Artist]], British Archaeology Magazine, [[Current Archaeology]], [[Minerva (archaeology magazine)]], and [[Antiquity (journal)]]. In 2014 she was commissioned by [[Oxbow Books]], to write a biography of her father [[Alan Sorrell]].<ref>[https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/blog/2018/01/11/alan-sorrell-man-created-roman-britain/],</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.juliasorrell.ukartists.com Julia Sorrell: official website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorrell, Julia}} [[Category:20th-century English painters]] [[Category:21st-century English painters]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:English portrait painters]] [[Category:1955 births]] [[Category:People from Westcliff-on-Sea]] [[Category:Norwich Twenty Group]] [[Category:Members of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours]] [[Category:British embroiderers]] [[Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London]] [[Category:Artists from Essex]]