Julia Dotson

Julia Dotson 

Red Restraint, 2015  

Watercolor, thread and ink on paper 

24 inches x 36 inches 

This work, as seen in other pieces of this series, describes the outstanding requirements and expectations I have, along with other women, have experienced in their daily life. 

The red thread is based off a Chinese proverb which describes that all humans' lives are connected by this one continuous red thread. It is this connection then represents the expectations that are set by women themselves and other members  of an oppressive society. My employment of the red thread shows how some of the female population are trying to break away from these expectations and be free of restraints while society (represented by the sparrow) continues to tie the thread back around women. 

Julia Dotson 

The Oppressed, 2014  

Watercolor, thread, and silver leaf on paper 

12 inches x 24 inches 

This piece describes aftermaths of female oppression. The aftermath being that women, in general, have to struggle for gender equality to the degree that it will eventually wear them down into a broken corpse. The sparrow then represents an individual woman,  that she is a woman invested an exponential amount of time into attempting to gain gender equality that her efforts eventually lead to her demise. 

Julia Dotson 

The Marionette of Society's Expectations, 2015 

Cut paper and thread 

12 inches x 10 inches 

As a contemporary artist, I aim to stimulate the unknown experiences of the human mind in order to convey the common themes of my body of work - creatures, inanimate objects, and cast off figures. In order to connect with my audience, I bring these castoffs out of submission to create the connection between my personal experiences, thoughts, and the struggles of society. Inspired by the artists  Louise Nevelson,  Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago, and Cindy Sherman, I applied a feminist philosophy to my own ideas and interests, using my particular skill set. While their central work is not echoed in mine, their ideas of equality, oppression, and stereotypes is communicated in my drawings.