Everyone! Meet Julia Durgee who will be auctioning a painting of Shaker Heritage Society's historic barn on the evening of Feast 2022, created Plein air!
See the piece be created before your very eyes and maybe you'll be lucky and get to take it home too!
Julia is one of many generous individuals who have donated to our auction, which will be able to be accessed virtually and open to all. You are also welcome to join us in person for this exciting event on the evening of June 18th. Learn more about Julia below.
"With formidable illustration skills, Julia Durgee paints over-looked (and under-painted) beauty and buzz around her.
She grew up drawing cartoons & fashion whilst painting murals & portraits in Loudonville, NY, and studied fine art at Shaker High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science in apparel design from Cornell University and pursued freelance illustration in NYC. In 2005, she was heavily influenced by the graphic novel boom, which unearthed her talent for producing autobiographical comic art, winning her an American Illustration Award in 2007.
She received her M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame believing the business world needed more artists. In 2013, after marketing the magic of Disney World, she moved to Portland, Maine to market the Bean Boots of L.L.Bean and studied plein air painting on Monhegan Island with David Lussier. She preferred to paint slightly less-serene, Maine settings (a rock-climbing competition, a non-profit fundraiser, a craft beer festival) and sold many of these paintings at her well-priced, 2019, solo show at the Union of Maine Visual Artists Gallery in Portland, Maine.
Happily settled back home to Albany, she sold her painting of a Free Food Fridge during 2021’s Built Exhibit, won “Best New Exhibitor” at Schenectady’s Stockade Art Festival, and painted live at the NYS Writers Institute Book Festival. By day, she is a Sr. Manager of Omnichannel Marketing & Insights at Beech-Nut Nutrition Company in Amsterdam, NY. "
