Interview with Julianna Childs
I am very excited to introduce everyone to this month’s “Female of The Month”. She is Julianna Childs. She is an artist from Boulder Colorado. The name of her art is “Are You Done With That”. Her refreshing take on her art will reinvigorate your spirit. She is just the inspiration you need for 2021.
HI Julianna! Thank you for talking to me. I am interested in learning more about your art and how you got involved in portrait drawing. Tell me a little about yourself.
Oh, my goodness, I live in Boulder Colorado, but grew up in Denver. I really love it here. It has made me who I am. I grew up in the natural world and feel very lucky and privileged to grow up here with nature all around me. Nature has fundamentally developed who I am. It rejuvenates and grounds me. It is also imperative in the creation of my imagination and art.
Your art is so beautiful. I can feel the influence of nature in your pieces. How did you know you wanted to be an artist?
It’s a long story and intertwined with my personal growth. I was sexually and psychologically abused and assaulted in my senior year of high school by the person I was with at the time. This started me on a mental health journey. One of the symptoms of that experience was feeling paralyzed and stuck and afraid of taking chances, really, I did not want to do anything. I had a real fear of disappointing people and myself. I was afraid that I would not meet everyone’s expectations, beyond that I was afraid of not being perfect or not succeeding in anything I did. I really became encapsulated in this paralysis of just not being able to do anything, not even my homework. Everything was challenging. I went on this journey privately for so long. I didn’t talk about it with anyone because I thought It was my own fault. It was my mistake and my fault and problem for not being able to pull myself out of it. I am privileged to have a family that not only supported me but has done so much to understand where I’m at and experiencing. I was finally able to talk about it and my family was very supportive. With their help, I was able to take the next steps to get some therapy and go to support groups, which were very helpful to me.
Art therapy was one of the types of therapy I participated in. It was all sorts of daily exercises that allowed me to express myself freely, with no judgment. It felt like these tiny wins were basically taking a chance, making something, and then being rewarded for what you did. You felt like OK I did it. It was low stakes but it was the small steps I needed to heal. One of the exercises was called “Blind Contour Drawing”. An example of this is if I was drawing a picture of someone but I would only look at you and not the paper. So, when you look down at the paper and see the drawing it is really weird and unflattering, not at all realistic. I was in a cocoon of no judgment. There was no expectation of what the drawing was supposed to look like. I found it incredibly freeing. I started practicing blind contouring as a coping mechanism. It felt like a lot of little wins and taking a chance. I felt rewarded by creating a product that was weird and different. I felt like I was proving to myself that by taking a chance and letting judgments and expectations ease a little bit I could create something unique.
It was the night of the 2016 presidential election that I had an uplifting experience about my art. I was particularly ignorant and didn’t realize what our country was going through or what the people in this country were feeling. I was feeling existential and helpless. I started blind contour drawing politicians, I was just going nuts. I think I created 36 of these crazy portraits. I just kept going with the faces I made and put them on everything. The feedback I got was positive. It was a very uplifting and empowering experience.
My art is an invitation for people to take a chance and be less judgmental of themselves. I want people to be proud of who they are! My art is super colorful and there is a lot of humor in many of the pieces. It is just an explosion and has a no holding back feel to it. I hope my art is really encouraging to people.
I commend you for going through an abusive relationship and making something positive from it. A few years ago, I had an abusive person in my life, and I kind of know how you feel. It takes a lot of inner strength to come out the other side.
Totally, Abuse is all too common. It is crazy to me that there are so few women who cannot relate. I think it’s horrible and I want to protect future women. I want to advocate for sex education that makes sense and encapsulates not only sex but relationships. I think It is important for women to be able to recognize when they are being treated in a way that is unkind or potentially traumatizing. I have this feeling of a greater appreciation for women who are strong and resilient and are able to grow and change because of their experience.
I feel that sometimes women are told they are too emotional and we should hide our feelings. Do you relate to that? If so, how does this affect your art?
I am the most emotional person. I’m like the shrimp that can see in 30,000 colors. Sometimes I feel like I feel in 30,000 different ways. I used to get wrapped up in that and think it’s a bad thing. Now I appreciate it because it makes me empathetic. I think emotions are incredibly beautiful. When my parents saw that I was struggling they encouraged me to understand that art was a wonderful way to turn these emotions into something cool.
Do you have any goals for 2021?
I really struggle with setting goals. I carry too much of that judgment and exceptions I was talking about earlier. Like, what if I don’t fulfill that goal. My goal or aspiration is to keep practicing acceptance in everything. Acceptance for feeling stressed or feeling like I didn't get enough done. Acceptance for having a bad day and acknowledging that I don’t need to beat myself up about it.
What advice would you give girls who have a dream like you?
I have difficulty with this. It’s the same sort of thing as setting goals. I feel like I have a filter in my mind that morphs incoming advice into an overreaching message. “I won’t be enough, I am not enough”. Furthermore, I am not in a place where I think I can give advice. That being said, I do think that the more you ground yourself, the more you can connect yourself with what’s important. Go outside as much as possible and put your hands on the ground, literally, put your hands on the ground. Feel nature and the way it makes you connect to yourself and the world. I think this is a guiding star to personal development and is the most beautiful healing joyous feeling.
I know you use your art for healing. Are there any charities you are passionate about?
I am donating 10% of all purchases of my art to the Loveland Foundation. It is an organization that tries and create resources for women and girls of color to get the mental healthcare they need. I think that is super incredible because unfortunately, healthcare is expensive and mental health is very important. I believe that women of color have the weight of the world on their shoulders. I cannot fully understand but I will always do my best to be present and understand and stand with them. I think there should be a clean slate and only women of color should run the world.
The second organization is a Colorado organization called COLOR. It’s an organization that gives family planning and health care to Latinx women and their communities. You can find information on their website https://www.colorlatina.org/
Thank you so much for your interview. I really enjoyed meeting you and learning about blind drawing. I, also, really appreciate your candor about all you have been through. I love your positive attitude and message about how much nature has helped you heal. I know the next time I need to ground myself I will be outside!! I am sure your story will resonate with many women.
You can find Julianna’s art at her website or follow her on Instagram @are.you.done.with.that and her website www.areyoudonewiththat.com