ARTIST STATEMENT
The past few years have taken a toll on the mental health of every woman I know. We have born the brunt of childcare and homeschooling our children and trying to work at the same time and agonizing over impossible covid-related decisions about whether to prioritize the physical or mental health of our children. When our children could finally return to school we were faced with the risk of gunmen slaughtering them in their classrooms. And even as we cis white women in America benefit from a higher level of privilege we see our black sisters being shot down and beaten by police. We see our youngest sisters forced to give birth. We see our sisters in Iran being tortured and raped. We know that none of us is safe until all of us are safe. We agonize over what to tell our daughters in order to help them to survive. We feel isolated though we are not alone. We pray that our worry will save us.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Julie Waltz-Stalker grew up in Staunton, Virginia. She attended Houghton College, where she received a BA of Fine Art in painting and sculpture. In 2006 she moved to Corning, New York to study under the painter Thomas S. Buechner as an apprentice and studio assistant.
Julie’s work is deeply personal and reflects her experiences growing up with chronic illness in a dysfunctional fundamentalist family. Her paintings convey themes of feminism, motherhood, beauty, shame, pain, spirituality, and resilience.
Julie creates, teaches, and freelances in Corning, New York, where she lives with her husband and child.
© Julie Waltz-Stalker