Visual Artist
Julie Speed
Notes from Evan Smith
"Julie Speed is an Austin-based visual artist. Speed was born in Chicago and grew up in various cities along the East Coast. After continuing to move around quite a bit during her early adulthood, Speed settled in Austin in 1978, where she began devoting herself full-time to her art.
Speed has since become one of the most successful artists to come out of Austin. Celebrities like Johnny Depp and Jimmie Vaughan are known to own some of Speed's pieces. Shawn Colvin's Grammy-winning album A Few Small Repairs is named for one of Speed's paintings and illustrated by another.
Speed's works are mysterious and compelling, with detail and color more in the style of the masters of the Renaissance than of the popular artists of today. Many also contain a bit of surrealism. These elements combine to help explore the thoughts and feelings that seem to haunt the human experience.
In May of 2004, the University of Texas press published Julie Speed: Paintings, Constructions, and Works on Paper, a collection of her work that also includes questions and answers from Speed and essays by art historians on the significance of her work." - Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 7.15.04
