Julianna's profile
My work investigates patterns - those found in storytelling, (mis)communication, textiles, and human behavior - and uses them to speak about the tension between comfort and security, identity, or accountability. These patterns carry memory and meaning, revealing what we inherit or repeat.
As questions emerge that I want to explore, each series begins with research for new processes and materials that carry their own histories or symbolism. Through mindful and measured acts of cutting, wrapping, weaving, and mark-making I construct works on paper, sculptures, and installations. I have methodically covered text to address banned books, woven multiples of miniature pants to speak about war, and staged a crime scene between the characters of Dorothy and Alice to challenge familiar gender archetypes.
More recently, my practice has drawn from historical embroidery. While both of my parents were impactful to my upbringing, my immigrant parent raised me with their traditions which shaped my cultural identity. I grew up surrounded by ethnically significant patterns that were both sacred and woven into our everyday life. They were silently teaching me about my past. I now use these traditional motifs, alongside patterns drawn from a broader historical lineage, and alter them. Through repetition, disruption, and reconstruction, I reflect on the forces that confine us, the structures we collectively inherit, and the way stories are passed on. Some moments leave only a brief mark; others alter the course of a life entirely. I ask how we can know what histories to impart and what to let fade away? What is ultimately carried forward, stitched quietly onto those who come after us?
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
While my work focuses on drawing, paper sculptures, fiber, and installation I also seek out ways to promote artful actions outside of the studio. These actions include volunteering weekly to work with K- 5th graders and creating larger scale art projects that promote community engagement.
After graduating from Kent State with a BFA concentrating in painting, I received an MFA degree with Departmental Honors from Parsons School of Design. I have exhibited extensively throughout the US and was awarded the Chaim Gross Sculpture Award, a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant for works on paper, and my work is in numerous private collections. I have lived in 9 cities in 7 states, but Baltimore City has been my home for almost half of my life.
