What do you do?

I’m an artist, working out of a studio at the back of my garden in Somerfield, Otautahi. I take on other work when I can – so I occasionally write, examine work at art schools and run creative workshops for kids.  My studio practice researches art history, modernism and archives. The making and production spans installation, textiles, ceramics and painting. I love making exhibitions. I’m also a mum to two primary school aged boys.

What images are pinned to your studio wall?

An image of the living room at Charleston showing incredible textiles by Vanessa Bell, ceramics by Duncan Grant and handpainted furniture ( a place I very much want to visit when I’m next in the UK), a postcard with a beautiful landscape by Rita Angus, a print out of a brightly coloured watercolour which is titled Design for a teapot, 1916 by Giacomo Balla, a photo of the garden at Sir Miles Warren’s 65 Cambridge Terrace, which is, in my opinion the jewel of Christchurch, that’s next to a photo of Mary Wigman dancing in a full skirt and a 1950s postcard of three proteas.

The first artwork that made an impact on you?

Doris Salcedo’s sculptures of spliced furniture made a huge impact on me when I was in my early teens. And I had a poster in my bedroom of The Red Studio by Matisse. I was really into all the interior scenes by Matisse, and I still am.

Who is your ideal studio buddy?

I actually really enjoy having my youngest son Louis in the studio with me. I have an old oak table and he sits there quietly for a bit doing beautiful watercolours. He’s five now and it’s great that I can have him in there with me if he’s off school or something and I have deadlines coming up. The other day I ran a multi-generational watercolour workshop for a grandmother and her two grandchildren who were aged 11 and 14. They all cracked out beautiful sets of paints and were so good at the medium. We had lovely chats while we worked through various exercises. I also love having friends come into the studio for a wine when I have new work out of the kiln or something.

What are you reading?

I have a few things on the go, mostly gardening-related books and some research for Botanical Pursuits, my upcoming show at Sanderson. The Virago Book of Women Gardeners has beautiful collected extracts from artists and colourists, plantswomen and landscape designers and I’m also loving Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900 – 1939 by Virginia Nicholson who is Vanessa Bell’s granddaughter. It looks at the Bloomsbury group and other artists and writers of the time who questioned aspects of daily life, domesticity and convention.

What’s next?

I am excited about an art residency at Rangi Ruru Girls School that I start later this month. I get to develop a new body of work in a large, light-filled studio. It will be quite interesting to make work and set up in a different space. I haven’t done that in a while.

Find Julia on Instagram at @jholderness.

Holderness’ solo show, Botanical Pursuits at Sanderson Contemporary (13 August – 15 September), examines gardens as social and creative spaces for women in the early to mid-20th century. Various Florence Weir artworks also feature in Modern Women: Flight of Time, a large exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, (10 August 2024 – 23 February 2025). There will be three new works including an audio work, two photographs and a set of archival vitrine installations.

Photo by Sarah Rowlands.