BIO
Julie Kirihara is a Minneapolis, MN based artist working in kilnformed glass, printmaking and drawing media. Her artwork focuses on identity and the search for traces left by past lives. Julie’s background as a research scientist influences her approach to her artistic process, which is often experimental. Julie received her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1988, and has worked as a research scientist in industry and academia since then. Julie has studied art at the college level since 2008 and expects to receive an Associate of Fine Arts in Art degree from Normandale Community College in 2016. Julie has taught workshops in kilnformed glass and has exhibited her work in student art shows at Normandale Community College. She is the recipient of the Bryant Family Scholarship from Normandale Community College for 2016.
Artist Statement
I am interested in the traces left by living beings, and the connections that exist between ourselves and our ancestors. My artwork explores these concepts by examining images and objects, creating links between the past and the present. We are directly connected to our ancestors through genetic inheritance, and we are also connected through inheritance of physical items that effect a transfer of memories across generations. A photograph or a quilt is a rearrangement of atoms and a temporary victory over entropy that leaves an imprint of a former life. It is that imprint and flow of memories across time that I try to illuminate, to help explain how we became who we are.
Julie Anderson Kirihara