Julie Upmeyer

By Julie, Ffion & Nesta

The gifts of the banks of the Lleiniog River. 

Victorian rubbish revealed. 

Excavated and collected before nap time, during nap time, after nap time. 

Treasures now. 

Telling the tales of marmalade and poison, sewer systems and tea.

. . .

The immensity of this collection is still a surprise. At the time (mostly during the third lockdown) it was purely about the process of finding things in the river, not a deliberate act of collecting, and definitely not an ‘artwork’.

I would load what we found into the bottom of the double pram and unload it under our house. We would rarely ever look at the things again. So to unpack all the crates, wash and sort our collection with a purpose in mind was a revelation to all three of us!

I. A Conversation

An invitation to reconnect.
Past lives, distant places, previous projects.
No natural place in this life, in this time. What do I know, really, about Sinop? I can tell you what I remember. There was a waterfall, a path and a cold swimming hole, a black beach, a white beach and lots of friendly volunteers. There was a parade with fire that seemed slightly terrifying. There were boats on legs. It was hot. Lots of people from Istanbul were there, all having fun.

II. A Conversation with Sinop

Looking back in the archive, hundreds of pictures! Very few I remember taking, yet here they are. Engaging neuropathways long since disconnected. I don’t remember the reason for these captures of space and time, but the images become familiar.

III. A Conversation with Sinop, 119,680 Hours Removed

A forced injection of thought and image.
I insert them here. Now.
Creating untried relations with this space and these walls in this time.
Translucent links.
Ubiquitous materials.

photography, words, performative house tour
2022
included as part of Sinopale’s Relational Atlas, in Sinopale - the Eighth Sinop Biennial.

> > intention
A pleasant feature I suppose, a novelty.
Relaxing. Reflection. Ripple.
An unknown world beneath the surface.
Liminal. Limitless. Live.
Transparency echoing the sky.
In the interests of amenity.

> > investigation
“From a brief auger boring it would certainly appear that you have a reasonable clay subsoil at depth, and this should be sufficiently waterproof.”

> > planning
A corner feature.
Triangular, tucking neatly within the hedgerow.
Visible from the house… obviously.
A short walk down, bare at inception.
For residents? For guests? For people to impress?
Was it on somebody’s suggestion?
Or seen in a dream?
An aspiration.

> > consent
“Your application has been considered by the Council in pursuance of its powers under the above-mentioned Act and Regulations and permission has been APPROVED subject to the following conditions…”

> > notes
- Divert Drain
- Clean Out Sink and Connect Overflow/Outfall
- Use 4” Plastic Pipe for Drain or Dig Ditch and Leave Open
- Approximately 500 Cubic Meters to be Excavated
- Mixed group tree planting — Alder, Birch, Willow, Beech

> > after

How long have you been there? Are you older than I?
A typical peaceful omnivorous fish.
So many. So big.
Lurking.
We were told not to feed them, they were better off ignored.

> > and then

Build an island, plant a tree.
Not that one, that’s a redwood, a giant sequoia!
What great heights could you have reached?
With more soil and less saturation?
Yet very much alive.
On a sliver of land untouched.
An island, on an island, off an island.

> > now

Winter.
Liquid solidifies.
Latticed crystalline structure renders masses less dense than water.
Our block, just ten percent of it visible, the rest submerged.
From pond you were made and to pond you shall return.
Until you too escape to the field and into the ground.
Slurry.
We built a dam, you see.
At the far end to slow the water’s path.
So much rain.
There was something to fear in the high-speed momentum of water.
Logs, hastily positioned, accomplished the task.
Slowing the water to a gentle trickle.

> > admonition

“I must advise you that as a consequence of the provisions of the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, any representations you make as a result of this consultation are liable to be made available for public inspection”

series of 6 photographs and text
dimensions varriable
2021

a simple postcard
aspirational travel
delivering a moment long past
a scene never viewed
a message

The scenes are jumbled, colours fragmented, landscapes flipped, reversed and then brought back together in these graphic explorations of my new home in North Wales

postcards
153 X 111mm
2019

The Intruder is a building's (and society’s) innards, spewing out from the floor, into the space, and into the ceiling. It is a gush of materials from another world. It is composed of all the things in our lives that are quick, easy, multipliable, cheap and disposable. These materials have replaced more natural ones, and will outlast most all of us in landfills, practically infinitely. Yet it is beautiful, and strangely appealing.

paper, plastic, insulation foam, fabric, chickenwire
3 X 2.5 X 2.43m
2017

We understand the world to be three-dimensional, yet our eyes can only show us a rather limited two-dimensional perspective of our surroundings. These sculptures allow you to see three dimensions in three actual dimensions, the reflections showing multiple views of a single object at the same time.

mirrored Plexiglas, archival digital prints, glass vases, misc. hardwardware
2014

A numbered edition of 1,000 plexiglas 'Infinity Cubes' were produced as part of the ‘In-finite’ exhibition. The cubes were given as gifts to visitors to the exhibition. Rough, dull, grey, and nondescript on the outside, the inside is literally an infinite scape of colours and words, reflections and bits of the surrounding world.

mirrored Plexiglas
6 X 6 X 6cm, edition of 1000
2017

‘The Metromorphic Varieties’ proposes a possible future step in evolution - animals evolving to blend into the built world, disguising themselves with the patterns and colours of the city.

Principles of dazzle and disruptive camouflage are used and adapted to illustrate this utopic/distopic urban scenario. Birds cats and rabbits, all common features of city life, are presented camouflaged in front of a panoramic cityscape. ‘The Metromorphic Varieties’ imagines how animals could, in the future, become more optically suited for the haphazard, man-made city environment.

Digital photograph, bisque ceramic figurines, watercolor paints, mirrors, plexiglas
dimensions variable
2016

A four meter ceiling medallion dominates the room. 
What should be three dimensional is two.
What should be on the ceiling is on the floor.
What should be made of plaster is made of polystyrene, gilded, photographed, enlarged and flattened. 

4 m
polystyrene ceiling medallion, metallic wax, pvc sticker
2017

Two halves of a Plexiglass sphere are installed on either side of a window and filled halfway with water. Images of the outside are flipped and warped, moving with the gait of the viewer approaching the work. The comforts of interior, private, controlled space are visually juxtaposed with the chaotic, public, dirty, and unpredictable outdoors. Windows, doors and walls and other barriers are made irrelevant. 

44 X 59 X 50cm 
Plexiglass sphere, silicone, water
2017

Islands are betrayed by waves; they crash, ripple, and refract, signalling to seafarers the presence of land. But what if an island wants to hide? What if it’s not ready to be built upon? What if it likes a quiet, submerged way of life? Inspired by the ring infrastructure proposed by the Fresnel-Liverpool research team in their paper entitled “Broadband Cylindrical Acoustic Cloak for Linear Surface Waves in a Fluid”, I propose a plan to empower islands to camouflage themselves. Using the materials they have at hand; seaweed, shells, rocks, debris, they form pillars, forcing them upwards in concentric circles until they are just below the water’s surface. This guides incoming waves into a whirlpool, spiralling around the island before dissipating and redirecting the energy outwards towards incoming waves, cancelling them out. The presence of the island in the water is obscured.

watercololor and colored pencils on paper
poliester resin, mussel shells, rocks, seaweed, sand, found beach plastic
66 X 51cm
2017 

My studio used to share a wall with the Central Bank of Turkey, where they shred worn-out or otherwise damaged bills. Helmeted men with aged carbine rifles supervise the transfer of the shreds in giant clear plastic bags, from the bank into armoured trucks. Inevitably, they drop some. 

I have recreated a set of Turkish Lira bills using the shredded money I’ve gathered off the street. The result is a jumble of text, partial images, patterns, and hues, so familiar from our daily interactions with the real, legal tender. 

shredded Turkish Lira
72 X 154 mm (100 TL)  68 X 148 mm (50 TL) 68 X 142 mm (20 TL)   
64 X 136 mm (10 TL)  64 X 130 mm (5 TL)

2013

Two copper tea trays hang from the high arches of the Surp Yerrortutyun Church, marking the span of Upmeyer’s life in Istanbul. She is a guest host, living as a guest in Turkey while simultaneously hosting dozens of international artists and friends. 

One seminal experience involves tea. Throughout the renovation of their art space, whenever Julie and her partner Anne visited the site, the workers would stop and order tea for all present. Towards the end, Julie and Anne furnished the office and bought a Turkish tea maker. One day they came early and made tea. When the workers arrived, they offered them some. The workers responded in astonishment, “There is tea??” They responded, “There is!!” The significance of that moment escaped no one. Once the guests, they were now the hosts.

copper tea trays, chain, hook
made in collaboration with Eraslan Bakir
many thanks to Abdi Cadani for the photographs
65 X 65cm
2017

The ‘real' marble of the gallery floor is covered by a walkway of ‘fake’ marble, grey PVC laminate. Often times original wooden and marble floors are covered with laminate, providing a new, modern, easy to clean, colourful alternative to ageing wood and crumbling stone. One can choose most any pattern and colour. This installation questions the real and perceived value of materials, and how this changes with context and time.

PVC laminate flooring
2017

As an investigation into taste, class, and marketing, pyramid-shaped units are folded from interior paint-swatch catalogues of each of the four major paint companies in Turkey. The joined units are superimposed on posters from Keskin Color, a popular store for posters to decorate one's home. 

Each work carries the title of the paint company and the year of the catalogue. 

paint chips, Keskin Color posters, brass plates
2013

A three-dimensional sphere delineates an empty space, capturing the layered city behind. The images within this space are built out with shiny laminated layers, re-forming the sphere in actual three-dimensional space.  

106 X 71 X 8cm
digital print, laminate, plexiglass rods
2017

Ubiquitous buildings, security cameras, and traffic barriers surround towering gilded sculptures. These sculptures replicate the viewing experience of ‘roundabout art’, performing for the viewer as they circle the works, their perspective warping and shifting, the entire scene changing in the process.

digital prints, polystyrene ceiling medallions, wood, glass, metal, plastic and ceramic ornaments, bronze, brass and plastic beads, silver and gold metallic wax, blown glass domes. 

44 X 44 X 70cm (with pedestal) 
2015

These five ‘time-portals’ were inspired by specific Skype conversations and emails between myself and my friends and family, after transporting to the Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo, Japan from my home and studio in Istanbul, Turkey. 

The installation consists of 5 different 'time portals’.

contemporary time-traveling, an interactive installation
Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo, Japan
2012 

Swallow Hour
There is a certain moment in Istanbul, each evening in late summer and early fall, not full sun but not quite dusk, when the swallows appear to have their dinner. They swoop down from the sky en mass with their melodic twitters. This is 17 ‘Swallow Hours’, recorded, transported, and layered on top of one another.  

Southern Indiana Persimmon Pudding
One of my great aunt’s all time favourite food is persimmons. Her great aunt and uncle had a persimmon tree in their back yard and she fondly remembers spending Thanksgiving with them, sitting under the tree with her sister, eating a giant persimmon. While in Japan, this was one of her favourite recipes. As it requires very soft persimmons, and the Japanese generally eat them while they are hard, she found a good use for the case of soft fruits that her grocer was throwing out. We cooked it together over Skype.

- The Recipe

The Date Line
Upon arrival in Tokyo, I spent hours discussing with my fellow residents just exactly how it was that we both jumped forward in time, even though I was traveling East and my friend was traveling West. Though we eventually came to understand it in our own way, I can sympathise with The Lost Galleon in the 1867 poem of Bret Harte, who is forever lost hovering over the date line, trying in vane to recapture the 9^th of May. 
- Link to the Full Poem

Kusudama Balls
In the ‘Japan Pavilion’ of Epcot Center in Walt Disney World, an eleven-year-old me bought a book - ‘Kusudama Ball Origami’ Book by Makoto Yamaguchi. The book fascinated me. I spent hours making the models in the book, even adapting a few of them. For several years afterwards, I sold my creations at a youth art market. 

The Wedding of James and Susan Lenz
My great aunt and uncle met while teaching at the elementary school at the Johnson Air Base in 1966. They attended Tokyo Union Church in Shibuya and were married there in 1968. I visited the church, and although the building had changed since the 1960s. I followed their Sunday route from the church to the Oriental Bazaar, through Yoyogi park, and out to lunch, though I ate with different friends. 

NOTE: My great uncle lived in Tokyo from 1960 – 1981, first as a teacher, then as a principal at the elementary school on the American air base, (First Johnson Air Base, then Yokota Air Base). It was here that he met my great aunt, who was a teacher and librarian at the same school from 1965 – 1981.

Mad Lib' is an improvisational word game, where one is prompted for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story, creating unexpected results - exquisite corpse-type storytelling. 

This Mad Lib Soup recipe is best used in a relatively well-stocked kitchen. First, fill in the blanks on the blue page. As this is a real recipe, its best if you fill in things that you have on hand. 

After filling in the blanks on the blue page, copy your answers into the recipe on the red and green page.

My contribution to HMK {Hotel Mariakapel} 2008-2010 Reunion publication, 2011.

A trans-cultural culinary exploration of tastes and geographies

In Istanbul, I commissioned half-circle pastry shells from the Bereket Borek Solonu, a small neighbourhood bakery. These shells held the nine unique sweet fillings from recipes submitted by the 9 participating individuals.   (Armenia, Iraq, Bulgaria, Syria, Iran, Greece, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey) 

Two half tarts are eaten simultaneously. The combination is chosen by the eater, who decides their own pair of flavours and geographies. 

➙ Two Times Tart Recipes

first presented in CAMeC Modern and Contemporary Art Center, La Spezia, Italy as part of the Love Difference Pastry project and later shown at Caravansarai, Istanbul, Turkey
2008

These sculptured photographs (re)create an environment, a street scene from the neighbourhood of Perşembe Pazarı, the hardware district of Karaköy in Istanbul. 

This area is normally chaos; carts, cars, people, the contents of the stores spilling out onto the streets in elaborate displays. In these narrow streets, there is barely enough room for one car, yet there is a constant flow of motorised vehicles, carts, cats, and deliveries. These works particularly emphasise the signage of the neighbourhood; the telephone and fax numbers, ball bearing logos, and other advertising. 

These photo sculptures simultaneously replicate as well as alter one’s experience of three-dimensional space. 

walk-in installations
vinyl print, Plexiglas, misc. hardware
150 X 100 X 30 cm
2013 

wall sculptures
inkjet prints, corrugated cardstock
30 X 21cm  and  42 X 30cm
2011/13

A one-day installation in the entrance to Grand Valley State University’s art building. In the course of a few hours students took the rags with clips, using them for months in lieu of paper towels. The piece dispersed 255 rags.

The sign read:  
"The Calder Art Center uses 16 cases of paper toweling per month. Please take a cloth and clip and use them as you would paper towels."  

carabineers, grommets, recycled rags
2001

 series of prints made while in residence at the Electro-Etching Workshop in Gran Canaria. I was struck by the sharp contrast between the pre-historic feel to the fauna of the area and the giant motorways towering over head.

More about my residency

electro-etching on copper and zinc plates
12.5 X 20 cm
2014

While in incredibly beautiful natural areas, I feel a bit powerless, as an artist, to work with 'nature'. I find the only possibility, besides just looking of course, is to copy or destroy.  

The green shells are female sea urchins, while the red shells are male. Only the roe of the females can be eaten. 

sea urchin shells, spray glue, wax
65 X 100cm
2006

Puzzled how one small street in the hardware district of Istanbul can support two active çaycılar (tea sellers), Julie Upmeyer and Anne Weshinskey launched an investigation. Just how many teas do each of the stores on their street consume in one day? With the shop-keepers permission, they counted their tea consumption on June 11th, 2012.

For their installation ‘Çay String Thing’, they illustrated their data by tying one string for each cup of tea from the shops, to the door of their preferred tea seller.

yarn
with Anne Weshinskey
2012

Units of tourist maps are cut, folded, arranged and reattached in three-dimentions. A new map and representation of urban/rural space is created. This re:map was created from maps of Amsterdam. 

maps, framing tape
2006

The grid of plastic clip-together flooring tiles is used as a base for large-scale cross stitch works. Thematically keeping in tradition with traditional cross stitch patterns, flower images are created through thousands of individual coloured points, analogue pixels. 

plastic flooring tile, DMC embroidery floss
144 X 160 cm
120 X 166 cm
92 X 120 cm
2014 / 15

Paper - Units cut from paper grocery bags are woven together to form a large wall covering. Small parts of store logos and ads appear throughout the installation.  

Plastic - A tunnel constructed from cream plastic bags, cut and fused to form cones. Viewers walk through the tunnel, the plastic brushing against their entire body.  

Balls - Units cut from paper grocery bags are interconnected to create paper balls.  

Ball Dispenser - A large fabric cone that dispenses balls made from paper bags. Visitors lift the door and take a ball. 

paper grocery bags, plastic grocery bags, balloon sticks
2003