Julie Barratt has achieved a remarkable goal she set for herself when she started university ¿ she has opened her own gallery after completing her Bachelor of Visual Arts degree at Southern Cross University.

Julie says she surprised herself at just how quickly she made her goal a reality.

¿I didn¿t expect it all to happen quite so quickly,¿ she said.

¿I had a definite passion for curating and for running my own gallery. The gallery opened one week after university finished - I was still finishing my degree and getting the gallery ready!¿ she said.

Julie says the Alstonville gallery will be a space for a range of activities.

¿I¿m going to start tutoring children¿s and adult printmaking workshops and definitely down the track I want to have a studio for artists to access,¿ she said.

¿I spent four to five years teaching children¿s art workshops and I believe it is important to keep doing that work in the community.¿

Julie says owning the gallery means she can still work in this area and have a studio to continue with her own arts practice.

¿I was at SCU because I had really clear goals and a clear focus on outcomes. With those goals in mind, I used electives to tailor my degree to subjects that were important to me. One thing I loved about the degree was that I was able to do units that gave me exposure to real working life experiences,¿ she said.

Visual Arts Associate Professor Jan Davis says the huge turnout to the opening night of Barratt Gallery is testament to the terrific support for visual arts in the Northern Rivers region.

The gallery has also recently had an exhibition of Jan¿s prints and drawings.

Jan is nationally recognised for her work with new print technologies and artists¿ books. Jan¿s works are included in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, the Australian National Library and many state libraries.

Check out the gallery details at http://www.barrattgalleries.com.au/

Photo: Jan Davis (left) and Julie Barratt in Barratt Gallery.

Updated: 10 January 2008