Julie Kornblum always wanted to be an artist. Most often, the artworks she envisioned were rendered with fabric, thread, and yarn. From a young age she was taught the rules, what is right and wrong of for "needle arts", weaving and basket making. Simultaneously, she learned to subvert the rules and traditions.
Julie focuses on the global crisis of plastic pollution. She uses cast-off, surplus, and waste materials: recycled copper wire, one-time-use plastic bags and bits. The palette of her body of work is deceptively bright and cheery, the color story of plastic packaging. These disposable items are products sitting on store shelves, and they must draw attention, like so many brightly plumaged birds, looking for mates.
These materials belong to the modern age. Physically, they are by-products of industrialization. Disposability, one-time-use, surplus, and waste are modern concepts. What we have thrown away stays around and will haunt us for who knows how long.
