Distance Drawn: Exploring landscape, solitude and artistic practice

The Tunnel Gallery at Tonbridge recently welcomed landscape artist Julia Corfe for Distance Drawn, an exhibition of paintings, prints and drawings inspired by the remote landscapes of Swaledale, Iceland and Norway.

Julia’s atmospheric work explores the beauty and power of places shaped by nature rather than people, capturing the changing effects of weather, light and colour across dramatic landscapes.

Students had the opportunity to explore the exhibition with Julia, hearing about her artistic practice and the journey behind her work. Following the talk a Q&A took place with a focus on the solitude within her landscapes, prompted a poignant

question from one of the pupils. Julia’s detailed response opened up a wider conversation about how artists can use landscape to explore emotion, atmosphere and our relationship with place.

For pupils studying art, the exhibition provided an insight into Julia’s journey from printmaking into landscape painting. Having studied at Northampton and Kingston upon Thames Colleges of Art, she has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers.

Julia’s connection to Tonbridge also has a special link to the School’s exhibition programme. She first met artist Ray Atkins in the early 1990s and attended his summer schools in Cornwall for more than a decade. Their friendship helped bring Ray’s work to Tonbridge for last year’s well-received exhibition.

The Tunnel Gallery will next welcome Sarah Pointon, from Monday 26 October to Sunday 1 November.