Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Julia S. Powell, “It All Matters: Regrets and Reinvention”
14 April 2021, 19:00 EST
Lesley University
29 Everett St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
ZOOM
Sponsors: Mosse Lectures, Mosse Foundation, Lesley University
Moderated by Janet Steinmayer, President, Lesley University
2021 Strauch-Mosse Visiting Artist Lecture: @-lesley/community-engagement/strauch-mosse-visiting-artist-lectures
Powell discusses her personal journey from high school athlete to corporate attorney to professional full-time artist, discussing paths taken, regret, and reinvention.
00:00 Introduction
04:21 Julia S. Powell
40:31 Q&A
The Strauch-Mosse Visiting Artist Lecture Series, funded by Lesley University Chair of the Board Hans Strauch and the Mosse Foundation, brings world-renowned artists to campus.
More than a third of Lesley’s undergraduate and graduate students are engaged in the arts, whether through the university’s art and design, creative writing, community arts, or expressive therapies programs. This visiting artist lecture series serves as a catalyst for artistic and cultural inquiry. It reinforces arts integration across our schools. And best of all—it’s free and open to the public.
Excerpt from Lesley University story on the lecture: https://lesley.edu/news/turning-failure-into-art-and-success
"Turning failure into art and success"
“I was killin’ it at failure at the time,” she said, until one of her brothers, who’d admired Powell’s pastime of doodling and watercolors — she had created beautiful wedding invitations and the like for family and friends for free — and gave her an easel, paints and other art supplies. Despite Powell’s lack of formal art training, her brother urged her to follow her passion no matter where it led.
“It changed the course of my life,” she said. “I tried it, I liked it, and then I loved it.”
Even more important than the supplies, her brother provided support and encouragement sufficient to propel her past her uncertainty and early missteps.
“It was just enough encouragement to keep me going,” Powell said. “When I started out, I was not good.”
She didn’t understand perspective, or even the difference between oil paints and water-based paints but, through persistence and experimentation, she started to find her way. She worked on techniques that would have her paint with a palette knife, largely because the tool was cheaper and easier to clean than a paint brush.
And she covered over plenty of her “mistakes,” both as a means of improving her work, as well as a way of saving money. “Canvases are expensive,” she said.
More than that, though, the practice of covering old paintings helped her progress in her art, and appreciate the relics of earlier attempts.
“I got to thinking that every layer matters,” Powell said, explaining that her contemporary works wouldn’t have the same depth of color and texture were they not built on the foundations of “failed paintings.”
“It all matters. Everything you’ve done before matters to where you are now,” Powell said.
Julia S. Powell, “It All Matters: Regrets and Reinvention”
14 April 2021, 19:00 EST
Lesley University
29 Everett St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
ZOOM
Sponsors: Mosse Lectures, Mosse Foundation, Lesley University
Moderated by Janet Steinmayer, President, Lesley University
2021 Strauch-Mosse Visiting Artist Lecture: @-lesley/community-engagement/strauch-mosse-visiting-artist-lectures
Powell discusses her personal journey from high school athlete to corporate attorney to professional full-time artist, discussing paths taken, regret, and reinvention.
00:00 Introduction
04:21 Julia S. Powell
40:31 Q&A
The Strauch-Mosse Visiting Artist Lecture Series, funded by Lesley University Chair of the Board Hans Strauch and the Mosse Foundation, brings world-renowned artists to campus.
More than a third of Lesley’s undergraduate and graduate students are engaged in the arts, whether through the university’s art and design, creative writing, community arts, or expressive therapies programs. This visiting artist lecture series serves as a catalyst for artistic and cultural inquiry. It reinforces arts integration across our schools. And best of all—it’s free and open to the public.
Excerpt from Lesley University story on the lecture: https://lesley.edu/news/turning-failure-into-art-and-success
"Turning failure into art and success"
“I was killin’ it at failure at the time,” she said, until one of her brothers, who’d admired Powell’s pastime of doodling and watercolors — she had created beautiful wedding invitations and the like for family and friends for free — and gave her an easel, paints and other art supplies. Despite Powell’s lack of formal art training, her brother urged her to follow her passion no matter where it led.
“It changed the course of my life,” she said. “I tried it, I liked it, and then I loved it.”
Even more important than the supplies, her brother provided support and encouragement sufficient to propel her past her uncertainty and early missteps.
“It was just enough encouragement to keep me going,” Powell said. “When I started out, I was not good.”
She didn’t understand perspective, or even the difference between oil paints and water-based paints but, through persistence and experimentation, she started to find her way. She worked on techniques that would have her paint with a palette knife, largely because the tool was cheaper and easier to clean than a paint brush.
And she covered over plenty of her “mistakes,” both as a means of improving her work, as well as a way of saving money. “Canvases are expensive,” she said.
More than that, though, the practice of covering old paintings helped her progress in her art, and appreciate the relics of earlier attempts.
“I got to thinking that every layer matters,” Powell said, explaining that her contemporary works wouldn’t have the same depth of color and texture were they not built on the foundations of “failed paintings.”
“It all matters. Everything you’ve done before matters to where you are now,” Powell said.
