Julie Sabit

With a strong background in figure drawing I find it exciting to depict the unposed gestures of people relating to each other and their surroundings. I especially prefer those engaged in outdoor, leisure-time activities such as plein-air paintouts, Scarab Club life drawing sessions, and various events such as concerts. I take photographs for resources to capture people in action and supplementary details for studio paintings. To enrich my visual experiences, I frequently travel to countries with different cultures, unique ruins or architectural features as in Belize and Sicily. Once home, I try to recapture the flavor of the people and places I’ve seen. In painting those scenes that have resonated with me, I hope to elicit a similar response in the viewer.

Utilizing degrees in sociology from Wayne State University, I worked over thirty years as a researcher and planner for the City of Detroit Planning Department. Part of this time I sketched in figure drawing workshops. After retiring in 1990, I returned to Wayne State University to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1993.

In addition to the DSWPS, I am a member of the Grosse Pointe Artists Association, the Scarab Club, and Anton Art Center, and I have exhibited in their sponsored art shows as well as in those of other art groups. My work has earned many forms of recognition, including the Scarab Club Gold Medal.

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In connection with the show “Mighty Queer: Real Detroit,” Randiah Camille Green inn Metro TImes added the following background, June 1, 2022:

Julie Sabit

At 90 years old, Julie Sabit is the oldest living artist in the Mighty Real/Queer Detroit exhibit. The show is sort of a coming out for Sabit, who was born and raised in the Motor City. Sabit tells Metro Times though she never lied when people asked about her sexuality, and many probably assumed she was gay, this exhibit is the first time she's openly broadcasting it to the world. "I don't expect that I'm shocking anybody when I tell them I'm in this big queer show, but it is the first time I'm admitting to everyone I'm gay, and just saying it out loud, so, in fact, it is a coming out," she says. "I don't particularly see gayness in my paintings, to be honest. I just love to paint people doing things."

Sabit finds excitement in painting people doing leisurely activities like sitting down, reading books, and simply existing. Detailed paintings in muted colors make the viewer pay attention to the seemingly mundane moments of human life. They hone in on the "unposed gestures" of how people relate to each other.

One of Sabit's most profound memories of being queer in Detroit is when her application to Wayne State's College of Education was denied because she was gay back in 1950. "They were purging suspected gays from the College of Education, so it stopped my registration," she says. "I had to register in the Liberal Arts College in sociology because I was a suspected gay person. I talked to a counselor they had there about my gayness and I ended up just saying, 'OK, I'm going to bed with a man now.' I guess they considered gay people as 'groomers.'" Other than the "1950 purge," as she calls it, Sabit says she isn't aware of being treated any differently for being queer.

While things are much different at Wayne State these days, some things never seem to change. Sabit's painting "CHOICE" depicts an abortion rights rally that she attended in Washington, D.C., back in 2004. Though the piece was completed in 2005, it's become relevant once again as the U.S. Supreme Court mulls over reversing Roe v. Wade and sending us all back to the 1920s. "We want to call ourselves the leaders of the free world, and we're going to force victims of rape and incest to carry babies? Sheesh," she says about the current fight around abortion rights and Michigan's antiquated reproductive laws. "It's ridiculous."