ABOUT THE ARTIST:

JULIE SHELANDER WAS BORN IN KALAMAZOO MICHIGAN AND RAISED IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN. THE DAUGHTER OF A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST/ART TEACHER AND A COLLEGE EDUCATOR, SHE GREW UP IN AN ENVIRONMENT CONDUCIVE TO ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT FROM A VERY EARLY AGE. HER YOUNGER DAYS INVOLVED ART CLASSES AND ASSISTING HER MOTHER AT THE LOCAL ART GALLERY, HELPING TO SET UP TOURING ART EXHIBITS. IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE, FIRST HAND, THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND MEET MANY OF THE ARTISTS PERSONALLY, AND GET AN UNDERSTANDING OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION. 

IT WAS DURING THIS PERIOD OF HER LIFE THAT JULIE WAS EXPOSED TO ART AS A WAY OF LIVING, AND WOULD ITSELF, SUBTLY CREATE IN HER WHAT WAS LATER TO BECOME A STRONG DESIRE TO COMMUNICATE THROUGH HER ARTS. AS HER LIFE CONTINUED, JULIE EXPERIMENTED WITH VARIOUS FORMS AND MEDIUMS OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION, ALWAYS NEGATING THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT HAD BEEN DONE BEFORE AND PUSHING HERSELF TO FIND HER OWN "VOICE".

HER EARLY ADULT YEARS FOUND JULIE IN A VARIETY OF CREATIVE SITUATIONS, BOTH PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY AND HER GROWTH AS AN ARTIST WAS BASED ON DAILY EXPERIENCE. AS TIME CONTINUED, EACH ENDEAVOR GREW FROM THE PREVIOUS, AND AS HER PURSUIT OF INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY EVOLVED, A DEFINITIVE CONCEPTUAL THEME EMERGED: DEFY ALL BOUNDARIES. IT WAS AT THIS POINT THAT JULIE BEGAN HER NATURAL TENDENCY TOWARD THE JUXTAPOSITION OF MEDIA.  

NOW, JULIE HAS TAKEN HER YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE, AND APPLIED THEM TO A NEW SORT OF CANVAS, THE GLASS CANVAS. HOPING TO IMITATE THE ART OF LIFE AND TRANSLATE IT TO THE REFLECTIVE SURFACE OF GLASS.