ARTIST STATEMENT
As a social activist, multi-media / collage artist, I am drawn to examine vintage mass-produced illustrations, found snapshots, and other artifacts from our cultural archives as witnesses to how we have lived. Inspired by Surrealists, I trust my subconscious to choose images from random sources and elaborate them by pen, pencil, and / or watercolor to reveal deeper truths of the situations of the people shown in these artifacts. Like many artists, I feel assigned to be “acquainted with the night.” To see in the dark. To be a scout in the depths of the chasm of our racist, sexist, and militarist history. To expose both the ineffable wounds and the wonders there (like our birthright need to love and to protect the home we share with each other and the other creatures on this planet. My works are often reports from our past, the deserted canyon where all left wounded and untended later arise to become our stumbling future. My artwork though not always specifically polemic is often informed by a feminist commitment that enlists exploration of the contexts and vectors that shape women’s lives.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lucy Julia Hale is a visual artist from the Southern United States. Growing up in the Deep South on the cusp of needed social justice reform during Civil Rights discord and progress honed her witness to institutional social injustice and led her to social activism. She has participated in initiatives for social justice reform with varied organizations, including Quakers, NAACP, feminist groups, and League of Women Voters. Her other professional and volunteer foci have been art education, and enriching and protecting the lives of vulnerable populations. Her collages and multimedia art have been selected for national juried exhibitions, publications, and awards.
Recent awards include East Tennessee University’s Reece Museum Award as their staff’s favorite exhibitor of socially and politically engaged art, 2017; Jurors’ Award for the 2018 10x10x10xTieton Exhibition; the 2021 Reece Museum Appalachian Artist award; and a 2022 Collage Artists of America honorable mention. She is a member of the National and Alabama Women’s Caucus for the Arts; Collage Artists of America; Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts; ATHICA, Anamchara, and the Woman Made galleries; and National Collage Society (signature member). She holds an Art Education B.S. and an Educational Psychology and Counseling M. S. and Ed. S.
© Lucy Julia Hale