Questions & Answers
with Julia Purinton
When was the first time that you remember realizing that you were a creative person?
When I was about 3, and was asked what I would like for my birthday gift, all I could think of was new crayons.
What does your work aim to say?
(Your artistic point of view, what audiences might see in your work or what it aims to provoke)
I think my work is an attempt to connect to other people through the shared memory of the experience of the natural world. As humans, we learned to think in nature, and we can still feel a direct emotional connection to the landscape and each other through nature. It can soothe anxiety, provide solace, inspire and energize us. Lately I have begun to think of each image as a little prayer: for peace, tolerance, compassion and for the health of the earth itself.
Do you think that creativity is part of human nature or is it something that must be nurtured and learned?
I think all humans have the capacity for creativity, but each of us realizes that creative impulse in our own individual way: painting, sculpting, singing, writing, gardening, cooking, building houses, raising animals, coding video games: the list goes on and on.
Who are your biggest influences?
George Inness, Gerhard Richter, John Everett Millais and John William Waterhouse. Also Joan Mitchell.
What do you like most about being an artist?
The freedom and flexibility to indulge my curiosity.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as an artist?
Don’t ever stop painting.
