Julia Ince

Artist Statement

After thirty-two years of teaching art history, I retired with plans to live out my dream of traveling the country in a camper van while creating art. I built out my van and got on the road, but in less than a year I was diagnosed with stage 3 of a rare and aggressive cancer. Genetic testing showed I have a gene that greatly increases my odds of getting cancer.

I am very grateful to the doctors at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, where I was treated, and also to the many people who have worked so hard over the years on science-based medicine to give us better and better cancer treatments. It has been three years since my treatment, and I have had no cancer recurrence. But I’d have to say that cancer has somewhat altered my outlook on life. I was always grateful for what I had, but now I think every day about how special it is just to be alive. I love this world, and I find special solace in nature. Sometimes I paint using photographs, but I often work directly from life. I paint and draw realistic and impressionistic imagery of the real world, and I think of my art as a sort of celebration of life.

I enjoy taking my sketch pad everywhere with me and drawing directly from life. My drawing entitled Chemo Room was created while I was getting chemotherapy. The chemo room was usually full of patients, but one day the patient’s space next to me was empty, so I decided to make a drawing of that empty space with the window and chair.