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Early life
Joanne Julian was born in Los Angeles, California. She grew up in Sherman Oaks alongside her sister and parents after her Armenian grandparents immigrated to the United States around 1917 to escape the Armenian Massacres. Her mother grew up in a Catholic orphanage after her father's death, and her mother worked long hours, where she later transferred the discipline she learned in the orphanage to her children. Growing up, her mother made sure that Joanne Julian and her sister would have cultural enrichment by taking them to ballet, piano, and art lessons. She gained her love for gardens from her father, who she would help and spend time with him in his garden growing up. At age six, Julian had in mind to become an artist after her mother would take her to the "Miss Jean's" art workshop on Saturdays. She had eye surgery at a young age due to being born with Strabismus in her right eye. After the surgery was performed to look "normal," she could not see correctly from it, leaving her blind in her right eye. Later in life, Joanne Julian went through a tough time when diagnosed with breast cancer, like her mother. She was not only worried about herself but, at the time, her tenth-year-old daughter Suzi Topalian, who she raised alone. Her artwork shifted from colorful and bright to dark and colorless portraits. Her colleagues would support her through chemo, radiation, and surgery by making meals for her and her daughter to eat. They decided to make a cookbook that had all the recipes for every dinner given to them to raise money for a scholarship for a disabled student at the university. After being a survivor of breast cancer, she got run over by a car, breaking both her legs and not being able to walk for a year.

Education
Joanne Julian attended San Fernando Valley College, now known as California State University, Northridge, majoring in Printmaking and Sculpting with a minor in Literature and Spanish to have more of an opportunity to secure a job such as teaching as a backup. After achieving a Graduates Degree and a Master of Arts degree at CSUN, Joanne taught for five years and saved her money to get an MFA in painting at Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. When applying for a teaching position, her strategy was to apply to all colleges available with a syllabus, cover letter, and art piece, receiving five job openings. Joanne was a respected professor, dean, and gallery director at the College of Canyon.

Artistic Career/Work
Joanne likes structure and order when she achieves her works, such as a bouquet or rows and unlikely objects combined/paired. She creates drawings and paints, where she shares that because of her interest in gardening, she would develop pieces where nature would be involved, such as plants, animals, and organic material, even from the sky/outer space. She studied and traveled in Asia, has four Japanese godchildren, and is a Japanese woodblock prints collector, which is when she started to spend time drawing her Zen circles. Often there is a boundary between science and spirituality, with facts and beliefs viewed as opposites. Joanne Julian learned and found a way to work with both to create art. Her latest exhibition involves the study of science, all plants, creatures, and materials. Where she uses a technique named haboku, "flung ink," a brush gesture used by Buddhist monks when creating Zen circles, a symbol of enlightenment. This method involves channeling one's spiritual energy with every stroke and not focusing on making something perfect. While Buddhist use ink during this process, and Julian is not one, she uses Acrylic and Prismacolor pencils.

Contact Information
Phone #: 818-763-2029

Gmail: joanne@joannejulian.com

Instagram: @joannejulianstudio

Facebook: @ Joanne Julian