Conversations with Julie Puma

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Puma. They and their team shared their story with us below:

Brought as a baby to England by well-traveled parents, Julie Puma spent her first fourteen years there with summers spent in her native Brooklyn. Her earliest memory of art is at age five when her mother gave her a set of oil paints which she used to paint a flower on a Styrofoam meat package.

Only a year later her mother would pass away from breast cancer. Her father remarried and his work with IBM moved Julie, her sister, and the new family back to the United States where they settled in the Chicago area.

An interest in art wasn’t apparent in high school, but after graduating from Western Illinois State University, Julie went on to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to achieve a Masters of Art in Art Therapy. Her passion for painting was kindled as she practiced art therapy while experiencing its healing powers for herself and deepening her own creative talent.

Julie made her way to Colorado to care for her sister who was also afflicted with breast cancer. Here she met her husband, gave birth to a daughter, and continued to refine and cultivate her artistic growth. Fueled by her family tragedies, Julie’s painting and art evolved as a means for greater communication and exploration of social and political themes. She earned a second Master’s degree in Fine Art in Visual Art from the Vermont College of Fine Art.

Currently, Julie is a full-time Faculty Member in the Foundations and Fine Art department at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Denver. Julie’s work has been exhibited nationally and locally in several solo and collaborative shows since 1997. Prized by collectors, her drawings and paintings are personal and powerful, resonant and relevant to contemporary realism.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think Colorado has a small art community and like all communities, it’s about who you know. Work that is abstract or trendy tends to get accolades while figurative work takes a back seat. I do think that being a mid-career artist has given me the opportunity to grow and receive recognition.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I consider myself a mixed-media artist. Painting is my joy and I seem to come home to it time and time again. During COVID-19, I turned my attention to painting photographs sent to me by healthcare workers, friends of healthcare workers, and images found on the internet.

The process of painting healthcare workers was a way to take the invisible enemy (the virus) and make visible the heroes (healthcare workers). In some ways painting nurses, doctors, and respiratory therapists allowed me to grieve the loss of lives, the loss of society, and the loss of the economy.

Most recently I have returned to a familiar autobiographical theme – “Nostalgia, Loss, Memory and the Search for Meaning”. When I was six my mother died of breast cancer. As a result of her death, I have very little memory of her and the years following her death.

Throughout my practice, I have utilized autobiographical exploration to try and piece childhood memories together. Working from smaller mixed media pieces and old photographs, I have started creating oil paintings paired with mini installations (sculpture/mixed media).

I find myself staring at old photographs and memorabilia with longing; hoping on some level this process will awaken some part of my brain to my memories, but so far this has not happened. These paintings/videos and installations cannot “fix” this gap in my life but perhaps the process of making/sharing the experience can help to heal.

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I value experimenting with hobbies that I am not very good at. I participate in agility with. my dog and am taking Lindy Hop dance lessons at the Mercury Cafe. I think it’s important to try new activities, ones I might not excel in. All of those activities keep me humble.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.juliepuma.com/
• Instagram: @jgpuma1966
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-puma-1961b0125/

Image Credits
Wes Magyar