Tag: Beach of Dreams
Beach of Dreams: Creative Conversations with Julie Brook
In this Creative Conversation you will join Fife Contemporary’s Director, Kate Grenyer in live discussion with Beach of Dreams artist Julie Brook. Julie Brook will present work from the last decade, spanning her time in Japan, the Outer Hebrides, Carrara in Italy, and Nepal. Using a mix of images and film clips, Kate and Julie with discuss the artist’s incredible journeys creating large-scale sculptural works in some of the world’s most remote and striking landscapes and her current involvement in Beach of Dreams. Julie will offer a glimpse into her creative process — from working with stone and marble quarries to crafting tidal sculptures on rugged coastlines.
Julie will also provide insight into how she began her practice of making art outdoors, using the natural environment as both her canvas and collaborator. She’ll explore how her work connects with the landscape today, responding to its rhythms and materials to create pieces that are as much a part of their surroundings as the rocks and tides themselves.
During May, Julie will be working on a new sculptural commission, ‘Tide Line,’ on the beach near Cellardyke as part of Beach for Dreams. This work will follow the natural rhythm of the rock bed, beginning near the high tide line and weaving its way along the mid-tide mark, with parts reaching the low tide line. Each day, the path will interact with the tide — shifting and reshaping in response to the water’s ebb and flow.
This conversation took place at Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy on 14th May 6pm, presented by Fife Contemporary in collaboration with OnFife’s Creative Conversations and as part of the UK-wide Beach of Dreams programme.
Julie Brook is a British artist based in Northwest Scotland, renowned for her large-scale sculptural work created in direct response to the landscapes she inhabits. Her practice has taken her to the deserts of Libya and Syria, the wild terrains of Northwest Namibia, and the remote coastlines of Hoy, Orkney, Mingulay, and the west coast of Jura in Scotland.
In the past decade, Julie’s work has evolved to include stone and marble quarries in Japan and Carrara, Italy, offering a striking contrast to her tidal sculptures in the Outer Hebrides. She recently returned from Upper Mustang, Nepal, where she continued her exploration of how art and place intersect. Julie’s work has been showcased in major solo exhibitions, including Abbot Hall in Kendal, Komatsu City Museum in Japan, and Pangolin at King’s Place in London.
Julie Brook’s land and tidal art have also been celebrated in the Lund Humphries publication ‘What is it that will last?’ — featuring essays by renowned British writers Robert Macfarlane and Alexandra Harris. Looking ahead, Julie is set to unveil her sculptural commission on the Fife coastline in May 2025 and is developing new projects in Italy and Japan. She has also been invited by Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh to collaborate on a contemporary tapestry.
Taking place in May 2025, Beach of Dreams is a UK-wide coastal arts festival exploring the unique heritage, cultures, and futures of our coastlines in the face of the climate emergency. Julie Brooks’s commission is the centrepiece of Fife’s 12-day celebration of Beach of Dreams hosted by the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust.
Stretching across the full 117 miles of the Fife Coastal Path, the festival offers a dynamic programme of walking tours and creative events. In particular look out for ArtMovesFife who will be coordinating a new Art Move on 17th May and Join the closing celebration in Fife on Saturday 24th May in St Andrews. Find out more about the whole programme here.