Julie Püttgen : Visual Art & Design

I am a Painter

My drawings and paintings have been shown widely, in galleries and museums. Some of my work is done with encaustic (wax-based) paint, which offers amazing tactile qualities and possibilities for mixed-media work.

I am interested in traditional Buddhist art forms, including Himalayan thangka painting, which I studied in Dharamsala, India. My Free/Not-Free Thangkas are a synthesis of thangka form and contemporary materials and stories.

Landscape offers a recurring starting point for my work, including the Volcano Series and the Rider Diptychs. In general, I have been extremely fortunate as an artist, in that I have been free to follow my nose, making postcard-sized collages of improvised myths as readily as the two dozen highly detailed narrative paintings that form the foundation of Unless & Until, a multimedia collaboration.

… & also a Photographer

My undergrad degree is in photography, from Yale. I once received a grant to photograph a pilgrimage in Japan, and I continue to make photographs as part of an ongoing practice of lucid living.

I Transform in Sets of 108

In Buddhist and Hindu practice, 108 is a special number, connoting really a lot, or a complete set. All the cool kids - Kali, Shiva, Avalokiteshvara - have 108 names, which is a way of saying that the sacred shows up in all possible forms and flavors. My White Dress Project (now a book available through Blurb), Warrior Suit, Healer Suit (also at Blurb), and further adventures are based in a daily devotional practice of sewing, showing up in the world, making photographs, and writing. These projects are gathered and documented on my Everyday Regalia website.

I make Books & Prints

My interest in books and prints is twofold. First, I love the materials and processes of Lithography and handmade books. And then, I love the possibilities for sharing, swapping, and dissemination that come with producing images and text in multiples.

I have published several illustrated books through Blurb, self-published some creative non-fiction books, and created a whole library of tiny meditation booklets, as part of the Inner Beauty Project.

I am a Graphic Designer

I design for print and web, realizing my own projects (including this site), as well as fulfilling clients' wishes. I've taught and studied typography and design - letterpress & digital - and enjoy listening to a project's parameters as they tell me which way to go.

… & Inner Beauty Consultant

When I tell people I'm a Mary Kay Lady for the Soul, I get {blank stare}, or Hell yes! In any case, it's true: I travel to art departments, schools, religion departments, meditation groups, protests, craft fairs, and public parks with the Inner Beauty Project, spreading the good word.

I do Public Art

My interest in public art began with Interactive installations like Becoming the City that Planted Trees, the Internet Mandala Project, and the Vashita Project, incorporating ritual, devotional generosity, and celebration of chance encounters.

Fascinated by the intersections of sacred and ordinary space, I have created a multitude of improvised pilgrimages, starting with the 100 Names Project, which sent participants on a shrine-walk through downtown Atlanta's commercial, public, and non-profit spaces. A 14th Street Pilgrimage - which was part of the 2011 Art in Odd Places public art festival in NYC - offered markers of sacred space hidden in plain sight on a busy Manhattan street. The Inner Beauty Pilgrimage to the Sacred-Ordinary Everywhere is an ongoing road trip project, bringing meditation and dialogue to schools, universities, galleries, protests, and private homes.

Public art mural projects are a vibrant part of my life as a teacher.

Sometimes I make Tiny Animals

I once went on a residency with the idea well if Jung made clay animals when he was freaking out, that's good enough for me. Turns out he made fortresses. I still love my Ark.

I Work from the Body

In projects like the Trumpovers and Mapping the Trikaya. I work with my own body, and invite others to do the same, finding felt answers to liberating questions. This is important to me as an awakening human, who's also a dancer and a student of Somatic Experiencing.