Julie Jarvis, Ink Painter
A self-taught ink painter, her work is shaped by stillness, transformation, and the subtle, invisible energies of the natural world.. Her paintings are held in private collections across Canada and the United States, alongside ongoing commissioned work.
Her creative path began in California, grounded in daily practice in dance, sculpture, mixed media, and textile art. This foundation, and her continued collaboration with artists across disciplines, remains central to her practice.
Building on this foundation, she developed and directed artist-led community arts initiatives focused on creativity, shared practice, and cultural engagement. For fifteen years, she created and facilitated spaces where process, participation, and exchange were at the centre of the creative experience.
Her current practice is a distilled language of ink and gesture, influenced by Sumi-e and contemplative traditions. The work is quiet yet alive—shaped by movement and restraint, and an invitation into presence.
Artist Statement
My painting begins in the forest and the ravines I walk each day—a quiet return to myself. As I walk, I am drawn to the shifting energies of nature: the changing patterns of light, weather, growth, and decay. Before painting, I sit in meditation, aligning myself with stillness and presence, and allow the brushwork to emerge from there.
Over time, this practice has become a distilled language of ink and gesture. Influenced by Sumi-e painting and contemplative traditions, I work with fluid brushstrokes and spacious composition, allowing the work to arise through gesture and movement.
I paint primarily with black Japanese sumi ink. In some works, I also add natural inks made from plants, nuts, and blooms gathered on these walks—allowing the land itself to enter the work directly.
Alongside the paintings, I create immersive gatherings—spaces of silence, sound, and shared presence—where people are invited to slow down and experience the work in a more direct way.
My signature is marked with a Hanko stamp in Japanese Hiragana, meaning silence, stillness, and inner peace. It is a quiet closing gesture—my wish for the work, the viewer, and the world.
These ink paintings are not images of stillness, but encounters with it—alive, shifting, and continually becoming.