The Green Man



Spring is here and what better
way to celebrate than by featuring the art, lyrics, and yes, wit of
Julie Karasik. Julie is one of those rare and gifted artists whose blithe spirit and enthusiam for whatever medium she finds herself in explodes upon the canvas of the mind's eye.

Driving in April

or...
"Old Man Winter Laments the Coming of Spring"

Lyrics by Julie Karasik

The Spring blooming flower trees
Are so profuse this year,
That fallen blossoms drift and blow
Like a warm and sunny snowdrift show.

Content Is Your Friend: Q & A with Julie Karasik

> Tell us a bit about growing up as a 3rd generation artist.

That's pretty hard - when I was growing up, I thought everyone was like my
family. The saddest thing I came to realize was that most people grew up
classifying creativity as something only "other" people were good at. I was
raised with the idea that *everyone* is creative (if in different ways) and
that you can be an artist regardless of whether you earn your living from
your art. Certainly, not everyone in my family is a professional artist (god
knows it's a hard way to get by) but we are all deeply creative, artistic
people. It's just what we are.
Everyone has their own art inside them. It's a crying shame that most folks
feel embarrassed that their own creativity isn't "good enough" because it
doesn't measure up to what they see professionals produce. They forget that
professionals work their entire lives to get to that point. If it comes from
your heart and it makes you feel good to make it, then it's art.
If anything, growing up with artists has, apparently, made me very
philosophical about art. :)

> What did you dream of becoming as a child?

Anything *other* than what my family was. (Every kid wants to differentiate
themselves from their family in some way.) I wanted to run away to the city
and have adventures. (This was colored by watching the movie Highlander
many, many times.)
I also entertained ideas of becoming a call girl in Nevada. (It seemed
glamorous) Once I started working at renaissance faires, I desperately
wanted to go "on the road". My mother never quite said no to that one, just
insisted that I finish school first.
Usually it was assumed I was going to be a journalist - I've been writing
since my early teens.
Although I did want to be able to sell my own art while still in high
school, my work hadn't gotten to the point where it was commercially viable.
I also lacked faith in myself - I didn't think that my creative works were
going to progress past a certain point, so I opted to go for a
communications major. (Normally I refer to this as the point in time where I
chickened out.) This involved doing *almost* nothing but write for four and
a half years. (Not counting the occasional tattoo I would design for
friends)
By the end of my senior year (college), I realized that although I was a
good writer, I didn't actually want to make a living as a journalist. It was
the ethics class that killed it for me, and the realization that the ethics
*only* applied to the class.

> Where did you graduate from and what was your major?

Cazenovia College (Cazenovia, NY) - AA, Liberal Arts
Ramapo College of NJ - BA, Communications

>You had this sign at your desk for awhile...

"As a hobby I enjoy ripping the heads off of idiots and throwing them to the
hounds of hell as a chew toy. Now, do you really want to annoy me?"

I had that up when I was in college and stuck in a suite with three
middle-class WASPs. I horrified them on general principal, so (being 19 and
all) I went out of my way to scare them even more, just so they would leave
me alone. Apparently, I have lousy conflict resolution skills. :)

> Through what training did your skills evolve (including parents/grandparents)?

I learned a lot just from observation of my mother and grandparents. I also
had some stellar art teachers in high school, and a few after school classes
here and there. Mostly though, I learned through self-teaching, the same way
I educated myself about most other things that caught my fancy. ( I just
about lived in my county library as a kid. One day I would devour everything
I could find about Jack the Ripper, the next day I would be lost in back
issues of National Geographic or Wired.)

> What influences your art?

Any physical place that captures my imagination. Anything that I can see,
hear, or feel is grist for the mill. In general, *everything* influences my work,
because everything I encounter influences me, as a person. Buildings,
store signs, hair styles, graffiti...anything.

> What challenges have you faced in your work?

Managing to make a living. :) Really - it's probably the hardest part. I'm
going to be (and have been) making this stuff regardless of whether or not
anyone takes notice. It's something I *have* to do. But figuring out how to
make pieces that other people want to pay me money for? That's a challenge.

> What is a milestone in your career that gives you satisfaction and pride?

My day job also involves art - I'm the graphics department for US Box. I'm
able to pay the bills doing something that at least tangentially revolves
around my main interests. Also, there's no better way to stay on top of the
technical end of graphics and production than by having to deal with it on a daily basis.

US Box

Julie's Laws #15 & 19

No matter how many complements you pay a woman, it still won't make her forgive you for introducing yourself to her chest.

No matter how long you sit with the blowdrier, the library will not take back the book you dropped in the stream.

> What role does the public play in your creative process?

Unless they have commissioned a specific piece from me, not much. I'm lucky
in that the evolution of my own work has put me closer to what is generally
considered "marketable", but I do not often begin any piece thinking how best to
market the eventual result.
This, of course, may change in the future.

>What do you expect people can learn and feel when they see your artwork?

No clue. I did go through a brief "shocking for the sake of being shocking"
phase in college, but normally I think what people take will "learn" from my
work depends entirely on what they bring with them when looking at it. I'm
not trying to advance a particular agenda or message thorough my work -
there are days when I'm not entirely sure what *I'm* learning from my work.
I would like that a viewer feel *something* when they see a piece of mine,
but that's as far as it goes. Like it, hate it.... once it's out there in
the world, I really can't control how people feel about it or what they take
from it.
If it's one thing that one too many lit crit classes has taught me, it's
that creative intent only goes so far - interpretation is always in the eye of the viewer.

> Are you working on a new project? Please tell us about it...

The expansion of CreateSomething into the professional sphere. That's pretty
much taken up my life of late. :)

> In what ways has the internet contributed to the promotion of your artwork?

It's contributed in every way - up until very recently it was the only venue
that I used for self promotion.

> What advice would you give young artists?

*Don't take yourself or your art too seriously.
*Don't assume that just because someone is more technically adept, they have
more talent than you do.
*Remember that everyone has talent - you just have to discover what yours is.
*Starving for your art is only romantic in novels. Don't be too proud to take paying work.

Most important:

*Every professional artist is at some level a prostitute. We do for money
what others do for love. If you can't make peace with the idea that you WILL
have to compromise your artistic vision at some point, stop now. Keep this
as the hobby you may sometimes make money off of, and find a day job that
will pay the bills and keep you fed.

> Besides being a rose wench in your formative years at NYRF, you were also
a pie assassin. Any stories of pies or other which you care to relate to us?

I can't believe you actually remember that. :) No real stories as such (that
I can repeat in a public forum) but I will say that one should always use
cool whip or some other non dairy whipped topping. Real whipped cream spoils
faster than you can say "time to buy a new costume".

> You'll soon have your first showing (at faire) as an artist. Are you ready
to meet your public in person, I mean, WHAT are you going to wear?! ;)

My current costume is a green moresca cotte dress with a simple belt. (and a
nice floppy hat by Lady Dra) I gave up on the uber-bodice a few years ago.

> What is your favorite digart software?

Photoshop - all the way. A little Corel Painter here and there.

> Do you have any books or short stories in the works?

No - so far, I'm leaving the book writing to my mother. :) Maybe someday...

Julie's Moms' Site, Dragon Folk Studios

Julie's Laws 11a-e

11. Stress is bad.
11a. Try to get along with people- it reduces your stress level.
11b. Lack of sleep incurs stress.
11c. Sleep is good, but not always attainable.
11d. Large amounts of caffeine will help you stop caring about the stress but will not necessarily remove it.
11e. An hour spent in the woods listening to the birds and trees can undo a lot of the nasty stress of the world.

> When did you discover your talent?

I'm not sure there was any specific point where I "discovered" a talent. I was imitating
my mother with pen and paper as soon as I had the hand eye control to hold a pencil
(or so she likes to tell it). I have been involved with fine arts, theater, and dance from
a very young age. It's rather like trying to figure when one "discovers" that the sky is blue.
Creativity has surrounded me from the moment I was born.

> When did you decide to become a full time artist?

I would say high school - I dabbled in selling my own jewelry for a few
years at flea markets and on consignment to local stores, but (as mentioned)
I chickened out from really going after it full time.

> Which present or past artists do you admire?

Short list? Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John William Waterhouse, Alphonse Mucha,
Christopher Shy, Alex Ross, and John Jude Palencar.

> How would you describe your artwork?

Often, digital paintings and photo-manipulations. Sometimes, digital fine
art. Usually, just art.

> Please tell us something about your digital art technique...

All my digital paintings start with a base photograph that gets imported
into photoshop and played with. The blur tool is my primary tool for
converting a photo to a painting. (I've worked with Painter, with mixed
results. It doesn't give me the same level of control I've found I can get
with Photoshop - though it can be a good adjunct tool.)
For basic "picture to painting" pieces, that's where it ends. (This would
cover most of the floral and still lifes) For my portraits, I also paint in
hair, eye, and tattoo details manually, and often add in other source photos
and montage them in.
I don't often start a piece with a firm idea of where it's going to end up,
and will often start a piece, stall out, and put it aside for a week or a
month and then go back to it once I can look at it with a fresh pair of eyes.
My pen and pencil illustrations start as pencil and ink doodles in my
sketchbook, are imported into photoshop and manipulated into black and white
layouts. I then print them out on ink jet vellum, and add the color with colored pencils.

> What is your earliest art piece that you attach the greatest cultural or sentimental
importance to?

No clue - probably one of the early bits from high school that's gathering
dust in my grandparents' house.

> In your blog, you're often very bold and transparently honest.Have you ever had
someone tell you how your honesty has affected their lives personally?

Sometimes - usually in a good way. Every so often I get a call or an email
from someone who is just out and out surprised by something I've written. "I
never would have thought you liked/did/thought that!"
Before I blog anything, I ask myself if what I am about to post is something I would
be ok with my mother, boss, clients, and/or the rest of the world reading. If the
answer is in any part no, it doesn't go up. I think this keeps me from just randomly
setting fire to my personal life.

> Do you believe that art can make the world a better place and how?

I think /people/ can make the world a better place. If they use art to inspire change,
well and good, but in the end, change comes from ordinary people doing small,
insignificant and un remarked acts of good every day.

> Who is your favorite Rennie performer?

I have to pick one? Erm....
The Pinsky Dancers (NYRF, defunct)
Don Juan and Miguel (Sterling Faire)

> Which Rennie stands out as having had the most influence on you?

Herb Diehl - my stepfather.

> Favorite quote of the moment?

The children of artists don't grow up with a lot of romantic notions about
the role of the artist.
-Jane St. Clair

"Fast Times at the Faire" A CD by Herb Diehl

^-^

Returning A Year Agone

Can it be
A twelve-month gone
I last sat here
in sun burnt awe?
Winter's fury has move the boulders
And time again has set it's spell
Changing me again.

And still, I wish to travel
into shadows deep
Meet the magic
dance with song
and find the hope
that with each day awakened seems
ever harder sometimes to find.

But a year's worth of pain and changes wrought
does not affect the awe, the wonder...

Disclaimer:
Any resemblance between the above views and those of my employer, my terminal, or the view out my window are purely coincidental. Any resemblance between the above and my own views is non-deterministic. The question of the existence of views in the absence of anyone to hold them is left as an exercise of the reader. The question of the existence of the reader is left as an exercise for the second god coeffiecent. (A discussion of non-orthogonal, non-internal polythesim is beyond the scope of this article.) J.Karasik

thanks to Elli for the Howl-o Spring banner!