Inspired by an art-loving mother, Julie van Norden has been interested in the subject her whole life, but didn’t study it in school. The New York City native instead went into advertising and it was only in her 20s that she started painting. After joining an art students league and taking a sabbatical to paint in the south of France through the Cleveland Institute of Art, she eventually left advertising to pursue her true passion, and has been painting ever since. A majority of her work is portraits (she is a member of Portraits, Inc., a professional company matching individuals and companies with highly skilled portraitists) but her most recent work includes more landscapes.
The Piece: Seascape, oil on linen, $2,500
Inspiration: “What’s not inspiring about Nantucket?” replies van Norden when asked about Seascape. “Winslow Homer has always been a big passion for me as an artist—the way he captured the power of the sea.” Find It: Nathaniel Witherell,
70 Parsonage Rd.
This year’s 19th annual Art to the Avenue runs from May 5 to May 30th. Judges included Robbie Kestnbaum (VP of the Greenwich Arts Council), Fereshteh Priou (artist & executive board member GAC), Dorianne Samuels (Bendheim Gallery Curator), Tatiana Mori (Bendhem Gallery Curator), Dinyar S Wadia (Principal and founder of Wadia Associates, LLC) Lisa Meipala Kennedy (Editorial Director, Serendipity), Francesca Pacchini (Deputy Art Director, Serendipity)
