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Federation of Galaxy Explorers |
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Julie Rodriguez Jones |
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Julie Rodriguez Jones is a Nevada artist whose artistic interests are space or astronomical art and other traditional subjects.
Julie’s interest in art and astronomy started at an early age. As a young child, coloring books were a passion. This combined with hearing about Sputnik in 1957 from her mother (a vivid memory from age 4) and together locating constellations, her interests bloomed. A 1959 children's book, "You Will Go to the Moon" illustrated by Lee J. Ames, was a favorite and fostered a belief that space travel for kids was in our future! She followed the US space program from its inception. Discovering astronomy in middle school led her to make a large, hand built telescope. In high school Julie discovered she had a real love of art but did not pursue it due to commitments to science and her first career at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) which she began as a research technician in high school.
Julie drew casually throughout college, during her career at LBNL and while raising a family. Her work at the Lab turned to the business aspects of the institution, writing contracts for LBNL’s collaborative research and development with other research institutions and universities. Though interesting, Julie missed the creativity she had discovered in art and in 1998 began to draw again. She was encouraged by inquiries made at a local framing shop when a customer came in to have some of her art framed.
She discovered digital imagery though an associate at Berkeley Lab and was fascinated by its flexibility but began her renewed interest by first studying traditional media at the Berkeley School of the Arts. Later she acquired digital skills, often combining the two media. Julie had a love of astronomical imagery and admired space artists such as Dave Archer but hadn’t considered pursuing space art until one day when she saw a fantasy image drawn by her son, Ross, of a planet overlaid with an elaborate sword. That was the catalyst.
Julie now exhibits throughout the United States and overseas. She has received numerous awards and honors for both her astronomical art and her flowers. In addition to her work being shown in galleries, Julie's art can also be seen nationally as she has created corporate art for businesses and non-profit organizations.
After a thirty-three year career, Julie left the Lab in 2003 to pursue her art full time. She and her old loves are now inseparable.
In 2004, Julie moved from San Pablo, in the San Francisco Bay Area, to Spanish Springs, Nevada with her family and is enjoying dark skies (with fewer city lights!) and the wealth of artistic opportunities in the greater Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.
Contact Information: www.ArtFromTheSoul.com |
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FOGE welcomes your questions and comments. Please contact us as follows: |
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Phone: 1-877-761-1266 Space Art Exhibit: E-mail to the FOGE Space Art Exhibit team Web Pages: E-mail to the FOGE Webmaster at webmaster@foge.org |
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© Julie Rodriguez Jones
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