Julia Midgley is an artist, printmaker and documentary artist A frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Art’s Summer Exhibition, she is the recipient of National awards for drawing, painting, and printmaking.
Julia is one of 11 British artists who have been elected Fellow of both the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers. Until her retirement she was Reader in Documentary Drawing at Liverpool School of Art & Design, LJMU.
Direct observational drawing is the bedrock of her practice.
Past documentary projects include official artist at Blackpool Pleasure Beach; drawing tennis in action at the AELTC Championships Wimbledon; Davis Cup Tennis; Aintree Racecourse; archaeological trenches at Stonehenge, surgical operating theatres, and on board an EH 101 Merlin helicopter with Tactical Medical Wing, RAF Brize Norton.
For the Arts Council’s Year of the Artist project she was Artist in Residence at both Granada Television and Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Past reportage commissions reflect an interest in war art, and medicine. “War Art & Surgery”, a WW1 Centenary drawing project, documented military medical training and the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers.
In 2017 Julia was appointed Official Artist to the LJMU 25th Anniversary Roscoe Lecture series. For the WW1 Centenary she documented modern Cheshire soldiers – C Squadron, Queens Own Yeomanry – with drawing.
Until Lockdown she was engaged on a series of drawings recording the construction process of new premises for the Royal Watercolour Society, Central London.
Julia is a Fellow of the Royal Watercolour Society ( RWS ) and The Royal Society of Painter Printmakers ( RE ).
Past Vice President of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts; member Artists+Archaeology; member Reportager;
