​​​​​​​Julia Ball

“I do think for the work to be fully completed it has to be seen, it has to take the risk of being looked at.  It’s a kind of conversation isn’t it?”

Interview with Julia Ball from ‘Out of Light – the work of Julia Ball’ edited by Jeremy Mulford and Rachel Fleming-Mulford. 2002 Loxwood

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Julia showed every year of her decades long working life, usually more than once and always participated in Cambridge Open Studios which she was instrumental in setting up in 1975. She showed regularly with the Cambridge Society of Painters and Sculptors and was a close friend of many local women artists with whom she was in dialogue about the work.  She participated in large and small group shows, solo shows and created a number of collaborations with Elspeth Owen. She also worked closely over many years with a number of poets creating poetry cards and posters for the Cambridge Poetry group and designing covers for work by Wendy Mulford and Denise Riley, as well as permitting the use of existing work to be used on the cover of collections by Harriet Tarlo. She had an enduring relationships with the Old Fire Engine House, Ely, and was shown in many local Cambridgeshire and East Anglian galleries, building up a loyal following of buyers from the region and beyond. Her work features in a number of public collections, including the Women’s Art Collection (Cambridge) and Towner (Eastbourne).