We are happy to present the works of Julia Hill, a local Oceanside artist. Her exhibition HYPNOGOGIA is currently on display at the Linksoul Lab in Oceanside, in partner with The Hill Street Country Club.

What inspires you?

I find myself having constant inspiration from several different aspects of life. Nature, space and the universe, the mind and how we perceive things, energies that are inside all human beings and how we are connected through this. Also several creative outlets like film, music, paintings, installation and sculpture. Even down to random discoveries like going to a thrift shop and seeing the artwork sold there or seeing a child create something purely out of their imagination.

What inspired this piece/idea?

The show is heavily inspired by how the mind perceives different stages of sleep, how the subconscious controls every facet of our lives and how you can start to find answers to things in your life by going through your subconscious in certain stages of sleep.

Is there an element of art you enjoy working with most? Why?

Lately I've been working with this idea of allowing my subconscious to create the image instead of going about creating artwork in a very structured way. I make a mark on paper or on a canvas and allow myself to sit with the piece until the piece itself tells me what to do next. I'm finding myself constantly thrilled to see what images arise out of it. Whether abstract or figurative I'm constantly maintaining a level of interest and intrigue and I think it's the happiest I've been while making an image. It's unstructured and a really pure way of creating an image.

Is there an artwork here you are most proud of? Why?

I really enjoy my sculpture, installation and a couple of my abstract paintings. I feel like these really capture what it is to create work from the subconscious. I'm really invested in these works and it's been really fun creating them.

What are most of your dreams about?

My dreams vary. A lot of them were nightmares and night terrors which actually propelled this subject matter in the beginning. I was curious as to why I was having so many of these night terrors and so I started to create images that were based on them; maybe using it as a therapeutic outlet for these dreams. I've been really trying to hone down the act of lucid dreaming lately and those dreams can be anything from flying and testing the limits of the lucid dream to trying to talk to people and connect with them in the dream world.

Do any of your artwork reflect your fears and how does this fear present itself in your dreams?

I think it does. I don't know if I've really tapped into what these nightmares reflect just yet. Maybe I haven't come to terms with it, but I would say mostly fear of loss, companionship and death.

What's your next project?

I have a few I would like to explore. I'm really interested in expanding this subconscious painting method I've been working with. I also want to create an apparel line that is basically a non profit where I donate the majority of the profits to a charity or foundation that helps with the environment, women's rights, human rights etc.

Does every person, place and thing in your dream represents you, the dreamer, communal and universal connection?  How do they relate?

I think dreams always have a connection to me the dreamer in some way. Some are more prevalent as to why they are connected to me and others are more difficult to decode. I think that there is a universal connection to this world of dreaming and I think there is something interesting about becoming connected through this subconscious world. I think we take in so much as human beings, constantly inundated with information that during sleep is a time for your brain to process this information and distinguish the sense from nonsense in a way. It's like a filtering process and I think it helps to see and understand things that you may not have really understood normally.

What are you listening to while painting?

I've really been into podcasts lately so I've been listening to a lot of Artist Decoded, StarTalk, My Favorite Murder, Astonishing Legends and the Paranormal Podcast.

Do you ever catch yourself overthinking your artwork?

Constantly. That's actually what propelled me to start this subconscious art making idea. I'm so wired to make images a certain way because of my school training that I started to feel like it was too structured and too formulaic. Now that I'm starting to create images in this subconscious way I'm starting to fall in love with my pieces again.

For more works by Julia Hill please visit her website at www.juliahillart.com

HYPNAGOGIA runs June 10 - July 8
Admission is Free. Hours are Tuesday - Friday 11am-5pm
Linksoul Lab / 530 S. Coast Highway, Oceanside, Calif.