Meet Julie Goldstein
STORIES & INSIGHTS | May 23, 2024
We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Julie Goldstein. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Julie below.
Julie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I have always been a risk taker. I feel that choosing a career as an artist is risky. Yet, it fulfills all of me. I knew that going into the arts would always have its ups and downs but knowing that I can steer my own boat and pave my own path allows me the freedom to create my life and my future. I feel that if we don’t take risks we are not fully living to our true potential. Being a risk taker has forced me to fail and to get back up and reset my goals and boundaries and because of that I am living the life that I worked so hard to create. This is all because I feel my truest self when I am setting goals and not fearing failure; that is taking a risk and I love every bit of it!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
At a young age I knew that I wanted to be an artist. I studied Fine Art at The University of Connecticut where I learned art of Woodcut Printmaking. There were only a handful of Printmakers in my major at the time. I knew after graduating that I would dedicate my career to this practice and would master the tedious process around woodcut printmaking. Over the years I have both taught printmaking and collaborated with both fashion and surf industry with my art, making everything from skate decks and wetsuits to interiors, products and murals. I was fortunate to exhibit my work right after graduate school, where I studied Fine Art and Art Education at Columbia University, I started to show in galleries, group exhibitions and later internationally. I always knew that I wanted to balance my time between the studio deadlines and teaching. After 22 years of working as an artist, I can say that I am happily teaching Printmaking at California State University and am busy in my studio, preparing for exhibitions and collaborating with brands as well as working with collectors on large scale projects.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I feel that being an artist is one of the greatest opportunities to influence, inspire and educate others. Often people feel stuck and can’t get out of a rut. Art is a way to stimulate a memory and inspire a deep emotion in the viewer. I devote my practice to authentic storytelling that will empower and influence the audience to relate to the work but also to themselves and others. We forget how to practice creativity and as an artist I try to promote pencil to paper, documenting life and allowing life to drive and connect us to one another. I practice these techniques with my students, some who haven’t felt creative since elementary school. I remind them that we are born creative and as adults its time to re-connect with our inner-child, break the rules, sing out loud, draw whatever you see and write your ideas and thoughts, because they are important! If anything, it feels good to re-connect to your creative self, it is healing and rewarding on many levels!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I always felt comfort and joy making and creating. Even during the most stressful times, it was the stillness that occurs when I am working in my sketchbook or making a woodcut. I think I can answer this question in two parts. The first is my connection to the feeling of my true self when making my art. It is who I am and from start to finish I feel compelled to persevere. This brings me joy and overall a feeling of abundance. The second reason is my mission to share authentic stories that have been inspired in my research about women. The images, portraits and captivating history of women breaking societal norms throughout time and across cultures. My mission is to use my art as a platform to share these stories to empower and provoke truth, so women can in return feel connected to the art but also to one another. Art can be an organic way to create a positive contagious energy that help support and stimulate authenticity and creative endeavors; whether is be surfing, mothering or being inspired by nature or simply just being.