2023
I will be exhibiting selected works made over the past 18 years, at Harrow Arts Centre from December 2nd - 14th 2023. The current work explores the building sites which have sprung up locally and that we hope will help with the housing crisis. The paintings reflect cranes and scaffolding on all horizons. I now love painting in public spaces, engaging with people whose experiences can enrich my own. During the 18 years in Harrow, I’ve documented the character and developments here, building up a visual archive of domestic and industrial spaces. I began with the demolition of the 40 acre Kodak site, and moved on to the area around the Civic Centre.
2022
Over the past two years I’ve documented the Covid pandemic through paintings of soap. From the outset, keeping our hands constantly washed gave me the idea to explore the subject of soap, taps sinks and bathrooms as a new still life genre. The subject describes the experience of our worlds becoming smaller and more limited through successive lockdowns. By focussing on soap as a concept, I’ve been able to channel the stress of the pandemic into the domestic tradition of still life in a way that has never been more relevant. Morandi’s compositions of jugs come to mind in terms of using the same subject repeatedly, while of equal interest are the repeated images of Edward Ruscha as he photographs series of palm trees, gas stations or makes dozens of drawings of broken panes of glass.
Generally my work explores time, place and the notion of home and belonging through the recording of objects and places. I investigate how we attach meanings and memories to objects and the ways in which they connect us to identities and experiences.
To document my memory, which anchors experiences, relationships, thoughts and emotions I focus on objects or places that are significant in telling about my own or others histories. The visual absence of the owner allows me to focus on the detail and importance of an object or place. This idea is represented in paintings and drawings that appear uninhabited, none the less they carry deep meanings, and reconnect to those who were present at particular times. Using oil paint, gouache, and pastels and graphite my visual language records stories or thoughts, that I compare to words in a diary.
Other recent projects include painting with oils on old silk saris that I choose from charity shops or am given. By pulling them tightly over wooden stretchers I subvert the traditional notion of the blank canvas. The colourful and patterned fabrics bring their own history to each work while I focus my attention on the distinctive objects I observe over time. By documenting every detail while letting the background remain untouched, the objects appear to float in space. This signifies the role of the object in holding the memory and presence of the person attached.
I’ve painted small souvenirs from around the world that bring diverse cultures into close proximity in my work. A wooden Indian God, Lord Juggernath, might be placed next to a decorated egg from Romania, or a shiny Islamic heart shaped car icon might be portrayed next to a stone painted with Bhudda’s eyes. Each icon is a vessel for memories of the place it came from, the time and people in my life when I bought it, and a possible significance for anyone else who recognises it.
In other work I’ve expanded my research by exploring the personal significance and connection my family, friends or neighbours have to objects they keep safe. I asked each person to give me a treasured object; included are the lid of an old box showing a family crest, a set of the playground game Jacks, a very thread bare teddy and an old tie. Painting these items in my compositions means I am the observer of objects that were selected by others and hold no personal connection to me for the first time. Previously, I selected objects that carry meanings for me, and perhaps connect with the viewer’s history. I now challenge my research by being disconnected from the personal value of these items to investigate what makes an object significant. I see these paintings as a series of still lives, a catalogue of personal souvenirs that allow me to share in the lives and history of friends and neighbours.
CV
b 1957 Essex, UK
Lives and works in London
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Soap Boo’s Closet, London
2019 Once Upon A Whitefriars Gallery, London
2018 In Good Faith St Mary Abbot’s Church London
2018 It's Better When We Listen The Hostry Norwich Cathedral, Norwich
2017 Interfaith Week Derby University
2016 Drawings and Paintings Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham
2014 Civic Faith Harrow, London
2008 Kodak’s demolition Harrow Museum and Heritage Centre, London
Group Exhibitions
2020 Shortlisted for John Moores painting prize
2020 HOME Woman Made Gallery Chicago
2019 Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition London
2018 Matter Whitefriars Gallery London
2017 Housewarming Whitefriars Studios, London
2017 The Harley Open Welbeck Nottinghamshire
2016 The Talking Lamp Kennington Residency London
2016 John Moores Painting Prize Walker Art Gallery Liverpool
2015 Gatherers Artsmithlive Derby
2015 University Summer Exhibition Djanogly Gallery Nottingham
2014 LadyBay Arts Festival Nottingham
2013 Expo Bonington Gallery, NTU Nottingham
2013 ashenhaus Backlit Nottingham
2013 LadyBay Arts Festival Nottingham
2012 LadyBay Arts Festival Nottingham
2010 Acava Open studios London
2009 Acava Open studios London
2009 Exhibition no 191 Rainy Day Gallery Penzance
2004 Exhibition no 141 Rainy Day Gallery Penzance
Public and Private Collections
Nottingham University
Nottingham Trent University
Private Collections
Awards
2020 Shortlisted for John Moores Painting prize
2016 Selected for John MooresPainting Prize
Selected Talks, Discussions and Teaching
2000-2019 workshops in Drawing, Painting, Printing and Tapestry weaving.
2018 Selection Panel member for Hostry Gallery, Norwich Cathedral, Norwich
2016 - 17 Architecture Drawing workshops, Nottingham University
2009 - 2014 Art teacher, St Pauls Cathedral School, London
2005 - 2009 Art teacher, Bishop Ramsey Comprehensive, London
Residencies
2019 Grace Knowlton, Snedens Landing NYS
2015 Derby Cathedral
2014-15 1 Year Residency, Nottingham University
2006 Kodak Site Harrow, London
Education
2013 MA fine art, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham
1978 BA hons Fine Art painting, Central St. Martins, London
1975 Foundation course Falmouth School of Art, Falmouth, Cornwall
Holland Park Comprehensive, London
It's Better When We Listen, an exciting solo exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints 2018
at The Hostry, Norwich Cathedral, from Feb 20th - Mar 11th 2018.
Lots of new paintings about empathy for diverse religions through still lives of religious souvenirs.
Juliet Goodden is a painter who is exploring the sacred landscape of the UK. Her ambition is to familiarise herself and others with contemporary religious life.
Not the lofty, distant, even divisive worlds of the past, but the people and ideas that rub shoulders in the high streets of Harrow, Birmingham, Derby . . . and now Norwich.
Akin to an anthropologist she works in situ - recording what she sees, what is going on inside a mosque, a temple or a church - sitting at the back, or in the first pew, drawing board on lap. Outdoors she can paint from the shelter of her car - whose interior and mirrors play their part in her compositions. Goodden emphatically draws and paints from life.
As an artist she processes the experience into visual form, sometimes merging the view, so that the exterior of a church from one day’s painting in Derby, will be joined by reflections of worshippers leaving their mosque, on another, in the car’s rearview mirror. Her painting Kedleston Road from a Derby series, won a place at the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize 2016 in Liverpool.
In her latest show - It’s Better When We Listen - at Norwich Cathedral Hostry, Goodden’s paintings and drawings take a new turn, though still in the same territory.
This body of work focuses on the personal, domestic scale of religious objects, from the celebrated and iconic to the cheap, almost tacky souvenirs of different faiths that can equally connect and return the owner to a spiritual step, a pilgrimage, a special service, a moment of truth; or simply a happy time with family which takes on more significance later.
The paintings, in oil on sari fabric that Goodden finds in charity shops, place small religious sculptures and ritual paraphenalia in surprising conversation with each other. Norwich Cathedral also appears in several of the works, like a dream arising from a brilliant field of green silk sari, or tie-dyed purple, in the company of a Muslim incantation, Hannukah candles or a sacred heart necklace.
Goodden is also showing her collection of religious souvenirs, from which the paintings were created. There are small stone cows from India, a statue of Buddha from the Norwich Buddhist Centre, a snow globe of Norwich Cathedral and Native American Kachina dolls, among others.
The exhibition's title, Goodden says, occurred to her after attending services in many different places of worship and hearing extremely similar prayers and advice. “Rather than make assumptions about one another, we gain a better understanding when we listen to each other.”