Julia Cseko, Umbrella Artcubator

By Margie Weeks

One of The Umbrella’s two current Artcubator artists is Julia Cseko, a Brazilian/American Visual Artist. Julia endeavors to engage viewers ranging from art enthusiasts to those who have never been exposed to contemporary art.  

The Umbrella Artcubator awards studio space to visual artists for short-term projects throughout the year. The Artcubator expands possibilities for audience engagement with visual arts by catalyzing new and experimental work. Local and visiting artists are invited to take advantage of this platform for experimentation and exploration in a supportive environment.

Julia describes her experience working at The Umbrella thus far as “fantastic.”  She loves the natural light and the space she creates in is beautiful. Having a dedicated space to make art is very inspiring and keeps Julia motivated. 

Julia’s residency studio offers about 4 times the wall space and at least double the floor space she has in her studio at home, allowing her to work in larger formats. She creates fairly large pieces, and her soft sculptures and format canvasses tend to take up a lot of space. The canvas you see in the photo of her home studio below is 50x50 inches. Being a muralist whenever the chance presents itself, she also stores leftover supplies she collects from her projects. It's always a balancing act to make the studio a functioning space for art-making while also storing completed works and supplies - in her case, for working in several media such as painting, fabric sculptures, and performances. Currently, Julia is making a large painting that measures approximately 8 ft. X 3 -1/2 ft.

Julia moved to New England 10 years ago and now lives in Somerville. Ironically, she and her husband got married at the Concord Center for the Arts in 2019, and she now feels as if she’s come full circle in some way. She describes Concord as quieter than Somerville but so beautiful, and she finds its historical component fascinating.

One of the hardest things about being an artist in Boston, Julia says, is showing your work. There is so much talent in this area but not enough space for all the artists to use. Fortunately, Julia has a group show coming up at Montserrat College of Art called NEXT NOW, which will take place from Jan. 27-Mar 6. Julia also teaches at the College as an adjunct, which she finds very inspiring.

Julia is planning on doing a couple of performances for the camera before her residency finishes in order to take advantage of the natural light in the space and of the more neutral background it offers. She is very excited to be able to make new work, which she might not be able to get done in her home studio given the lack of space to film and move about. 

Overall, Julia finds her residency studio space at The Umbrella a very liberating experience, as it is a blank slate and a playground for new ideas and projects to take shape, without physical or emotional constraints.