Signs of
Life MULTIMEDIA ARTIST LETS HER MATERIALS DO THE TALKING
W
hen I ask artist Julia Couzens how she comes up with ideas, her answer is swift. “I don’t lead the work, the work leads me,” she says. “I hold the materials in my hand and think, what am I noticing? What is triggering a response in me? The art really comes out of the process of how the materials evolve organically in the studio. It’s not an intellectual practice—the intelligence comes from paying attention to how I respond to what’s in front of me. I’m looking for signs of life.”
JL By Jessica Laskey Open Studio
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In an expansive career, Couzens works with watercolor, mixed plastics, tape, twine, textiles and more. Her subject matter ranges from the sensual to the surreal—including body parts, DNA, spider webs and linear energy. A critic once referred to her abstract sculpture as “visual piñatas.” But Couzens is clear that art is not all fun and games. “People think, you’re an artist, oh, what fun. But for serious working artists, it isn’t about fun,” she says. “It’s about discovery and having the belief in yourself and the courage to try and understand what your truth is. Sure, there are things about it that are fun, but would you say a surgeon is having fun? It’s hard work. It’s hard to not know and stay in a place of not knowing and have the faith in yourself that you’re going to be able to get to solid ground.” Her faith pays off. Couzens has received numerous grants and fellowships. Her work is exhibited
Julia Couzens Photos by Aniko Kiezel
globally in museums and galleries, including the 2019 Cheongju Craft Biennale in South Korea. Many institutions have collected her work, including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Butler Institute of American Art, Crocker Art Museum,
Manetti Shrem Museum at UC Davis and Yale University Art Gallery. Despite the notoriety, Couzens never stops growing. “The biggest challenge and most important character trait to making art work is to remain teachable,” she says.
