A self taught artist, Julia has explored the elemental medium of fiber as a seamstress, then as a quilter, which led to dying her own quilt fabrics, and then to the joyous discovery of painting on silk.  Throughout this journey of exploration one artistic theme has always been present:  an appreciation for the feminine form’s ability to express the sacred quality of this human experience, and a desire to bring these ancient images into our everyday lives.

Her hand painted silk scarves achieve this goal by marrying the faint images of ancient Goddesses found on wall paintings or stone carvings with the brilliant dyes and finest silks produced today, evoking the eternal divine feminine spirit within the folds of the scarf draped around the neck. The images in “Ancient Airs” gallery are inspired by archeological photos and drawings of excavated wall paintings and stone or terra cotta statuettes dating from 4000 to 20,000 years ago. The images in “Whirl Wind Dancers” gallery are based on personal sketches of contemporary women dancing, and they express Julia’s belief that the Goddess is still alive in women today. 

Julia’s gourd rattles are another example of the Goddess’s presence in her art. Gourds are the fruiting bodies of the squash plant.  After working with gourds for many years Julia thinks that, like the wombs of animal and human females, gourds symbolize community, fertility, and generative energy. As dried gourds, they add the full cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth to their symbolic meaning. The voices of Julia’s rattles are meant to facilitate the journey of your personal prayers into the Universe.

Julia believes that her gourds are transformed into a new life through the process of being scraped clean, hollowed out, fitted with just the right wooden handle and painted with an image that fits the gourd’s ‘face.’ When each newborn rattle is finally trimmed at the throat in leather, seeds, beads or semi-precious stones, and crowned with a feather topknot, it is ready to make its debut into the rattle tribe.  Joyously singing out its name, each rattle receives an identification tag, has lots of pictures taken, including a rattle family portrait, and eagerly waits its turn to go into the world and find its new owner’s hand. 

Julia creates in her home studio in Olympia, Washington.  Like her own journey of artistic exploration, her art space has grown from a sewing machine and art supplies on the kitchen table, to a spare bedroom, to a remodeled 2 bedroom studio space, to the current configuration utilizing the entire living room/dining room. This studio progression exemplifies her belief that women possess amazing resources to transform themselves and their circumstances to achieve cherished dreams, no matter what obstacles are encountered. For truly, we have been doing this ever since the first crafts woman wove her first hand spun, hand dyed fibers into a beautiful piece of cloth, draped it over her shoulders and began to dance around her cooking fire to the sounds of her gourd rattle, and so discovered the joy of the fabric moving against her skin. She is our foremother and still inspires women’s arts and crafts today.  Julia hopes you will experience this sacred, feminine energy when you hold her artwork in your hands.