Long-ish Bio in the Third Person:
With formidable illustration skills, Julia Durgee paints over-looked (and under-painted) beauty & buzz around her.
She grew up drawing cartoons, fashion sketches, murals & portraits. She earned a Bachelor of Science in apparel design from Cornell University, then boldly pursued a freelance illustration career in N.Y.C. In 2005, she was heavily influenced by the graphic novel boom, which inspired her autobiographical comic art series, winning her an American Illustration Award in 2007. From 2005 - 2009, she illustrated for Forbes.com, Bust Magazine, Trace Magazine, as well as several advertising & event marketing agencies.
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 Walt 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. Avoiding lighthouses, she painted other purely 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, “Paintcations,” at the Union of Maine Visual Artists Gallery in Portland, Maine.
After relocating home to the Capital District during COVID, Julia paints on. She won “Best New Exhibitor” at Schenectady’s Stockade Villager’s Outdoor Art Show, and “Best in Show” at Historic Albany Foundation’s 2023 BUILT art fundraiser. In 2023, she co-led a mural project for Union College art students at the SEAT Center in Schenectady, designed them custom wallpaper and donated dozens of prints & original artwork. That same year, while locked out of her Google account for four months (long story), she painted new work and exhibited at the Schenectady Trading Company.
If you have suggestions for what local beauty & buzz she should paint next please let her know.
