Julie Speed

Julie Speed (born 1951) is an American artist. After dropping out of Rhode Island School of Design at age 19, Speed spent her twenties moving around the U.S. and Canada working pickup jobs (house painter, horse trainer, ad writer, farm worker, etc.) until moving to Texas in 1978, where she settled down and taught herself to paint. She switches back and forth regularly between oil painting, printmaking, collage, gouache and drawing, often combining disciplines. Two large volumes of her work, Julie Speed, Paintings, Constructions and Works on Paper, 2004 and Speed, Art 2003-2009 have been published by the University of Texas. She lives and works in Marfa, Texas. In her words, “I keep hours just like a real job, only longer, and in my spare time I read books, drink tequila, and garden.”

She is also known for painting the album cover for the Shawn Colvin album A Few Small Repairs.

Style and technique

Speed paints surreal scenes in a realistic style with oil and gouache. Her collages incorporate scientific illustrations and architectural drawings. In collaboration with her husband Fran Christina, and Flatbed Press in Austin, Texas, she creates limited edition etchings. Texas Monthly Talks. Interview with Evan Smith for KLRU-TV, Austin, Texas "Behind the veil: visions of third eyes, dismembered body parts, monkeys and more appear to Julie Speed - and she paints them", 2005, Southwest Art. Speed: art, 2003-2009, 2009, University of Texas Press. . Includes color plates of Speed's works, fiction by A. M. Homes, essay by art historian Elizabeth Ferrer, and essay by Julie Speed. Queen of Her Room (trt: 27.28) A portrait of Julie Speed, visual artist and poet, for Gallery HD. Produced and Directed by Karen Bernstein Austin Now, Julie Speed produced by Domenique Bellavia KLRU television "I [art] Marfa", exilés artistiques au Texas 3/5, Episode 2: Julie Speed, artiste by Katie Callan et Sebastien Carayol, Produit par: Petit Dragon, en association avec ARTE France 3/7/2014 A (Third) Eye for Detail by Antoine Sanfuentes MSNBC.msn.com