I had a lovely conversation today with Julia Schwadron Marianelli. Our connection proved to be provocative and quite entertaining. She is smart, matter-of-fact, and very professional. Super cool wife, mom, artist, and now full-time art faculty at Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC). Oh, and her art is splendid. A real visual feast for the eyes and soul. Her backstory and education degrees are quite notable; suffice it to say, she has experienced life in the art world in a big way.
I had heard her home studio was special and that it must be seen in person, so I was so excited she invited me into her home for our interview. We had been trying to find a time that worked for both of us, and it was finally here. I said a quick “Hello” to her charming husband, Josh; greeted her pretty daughter (and talented artist), Mina, who was on the floor with artworks strewn about, with her friend Malia walking into the house at the same time as I, and met son Gabe in his soccer uniform, ready to kick. A very busy and organized household on a sunny Sunday for sure.
We sat down in her upstairs studio with wraparound windows overlooking the forest, and we started to reminisce about our acquaintance over the last seven years. Her children had come to my Babysitting Art Parties (they have no recollection), and then we really dug in deep about the very large and significant piece that our mutual friend Christy Wilson had commissioned her to create about four years ago. She was so gracious to show me the method to her gorgeous madness (really not mad at all, but I just love that phrase). She takes photos of everything in nature, and also uses clients’ photos. Plants, flowers, trees, mushrooms, leaves…really anything that she would see while trail running or simply walking about this spectacular region. Formerly a city girl, now ensconced in the Lake Tahoe area, she was consumed (and still is) with the beauty of nature’s gifts everywhere you look.
She prints the photos, compiles a folder of images, layers them as a collage, and uses that as her guide or template to paint her big colorful works on canvas in oils or acrylics. Her creations are large and filled with floral and botanical elements. Sitting there in her sunlight studio, I found her artworks to have a three-dimensional quality that really grabs you and won’t let go. She explained that she paints layers and layers and layers, and that is what creates a quality to her work that is unsubstantiated.
As with all of my interviews, I veer off subject, go on a tangent, circle back, and then just try to figure out my scribbles so that I can write a good story for all of you to enjoy. With Julia today, it all came down to this: she wants to create works that resonate with the love and respect that local folks feel for this environment. She wants to convey the deep, evocative, energized feelings that come through her paintings to help a person grasp those seemingly unattainable emotions that nature inspires and provokes.
Please join us and meet Julia at Tahoe Art League’s First Thursday Mingle this Thursday, October 1, at 5:30 pm. Bring a friend, bring a bottle, bring a nosh! Mingles are always free and open to the public.
Tahoe Art League Gallery
-Michelle Gomez, Tahoe Art League
