Julie Kay Nelson

Rainbow City, AL

I am a visual, analog, mid-career, multimedia artist working and living at the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. My professional practice is tethered to nature, relationships, and the philosophy of wabi-sabi, the acceptance of imperfection. The latter concept is relatively new to me. After almost thirty years of making perfectly viable 'pretty art,' my work became less traditionally handsome but way more INTERESTING, an influence from octogenarian and fashion icon, Iris Apfel.







My creative relaunch began three years ago when I was hit with the words, "You have cancer." Months later, I watched my father die, and slowly, and painfully, I begrudgingly greeted the arrival of my mother's Alzheimer's, a cruel master to pathos and personal history. My life was broken, like a teacup patched with gold, but I am now more interesting because of it, and frankly, I am now better, healthier, and stronger because of it.