Julie Donec is an active member of the Poor Sisters Collective, a group of Hamilton region women sculptors; Nikola Wojewoda, Kara Bunn, Julie Donec, Wendy Wilson, Heather Kuzyk, Michelle Lynn, Dawn Hackett-Burns, Laura Wells and Kristine Germann.  The Poor Sisters came together in 2021, finding themselves distressed by the dark shift in society they gathered together to explore and confront what is monstrous in our world. Their first successful exhibition, The Monster Project, was held at Auchmar Mansion, Hamilton November 2024.  They continue to explore the big ideas that intrigue us all.

Artist Statement:

My interest in realism began when I when I was a student, receiving a scholarship from The Emily Carr School of Art and Design to study in Florence Italy.

Although the components of realism provide structure for all my pieces, I hope to reveal the more abstract patterns I see contained in people and places. Whether it is the beauty of natural design found in a slightly turned hand, or in a revealing unconscious gesture, the success of an image is based on comprehending and revealing those same patterns and translating what I have learned about my subject matter.

The concepts of duality and polarity are recurrent themes in my images, and even though I do not always consciously approach my subject matter with these elements in mind, it is a consistent structural framework in all my work. The finer, more detailed works are small, often in the form of handheld icon-like images, depicting scenes in egg tempera/silverpoint and carefully glazed watercolours. The larger, bolder works in either oil/clay become more emphatic, and the colours and forms more vividly defined. The quiet formality, and intricate structure of the smaller works represent my intellectual response, while the oil medium provides a direct and emotional way of expression.