Exhibition dates: 18 – 30 March 2025

Launch date: Tuesday 18 March 2025, 6–8pm – All welcome

Curated by Vivienne Roberts and Jennifer Gilbert, this is an exhibition celebrating the life and work of british artist Julia Oak, featuring drawings, scrolls, sketchbooks and textile works. Julia has been creating since 2004, and is a psychic artist using the medium of drawing to commune with the spirit world. She rarely plans her drawings over choosing the paper and colours she uses for her mark making. Sometimes there is a focus, something she wants to meditate upon; but after that her pen is a dowsing rod and discovers what the page is willing to share. As Julia now finds herself in that liminal space between life and death, she wants to create more than anything else. It both heals and helps in the transition of transmutation to her Spirit Family. We can't wait to show you Julia's world, but here you can learn a little more about her process:

“In 2004 I began my drawing practice with pens on paper, mainly in sketchbooks. The images evolved from somewhere, and took me to a safe place. My spirituality had entered a Pagan phase and my beliefs and understanding of spirituality began to evolve at a rate of knots, coming thick and fast. I just had to draw. I could be whatever I wanted to be, go wherever I wanted to go and do. 

I very rarely plan drawings over and above the paper I will use, and the range of colours for my mark making. Sometimes there is a focus, something I want to meditate upon; after that my pen is a dowsing rod and discovers what the page is willing to share. It is the act of drawing and the process that allows me to sift the information, stimulus, sounds, words and images that float around inside my mind, like a primordial cauldron bubbling up from below the membrane of my subconscious. Sometimes my thoughts surprise me and I wonder who this other ‘me’ is. 

Today I am an artist, and have been able to add that I am a psychic artist using the medium of drawing to commune with the spirit world. My artwork is strongly linked with Spirit. My spirit family are my mentors and they encourage me to be my authentic self. As I now find myself in that liminal space between life and death, I want to create more than anything else. It both heals and helps in the transition of transmutation to my Spirit Family.”

Opening Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–4:30pm and Sunday, 12–4pm
Access: This venue is wheelchair accessible
Venue can be found down the side of M&S, off East Street, around the back
Free entrance