Julie Lapping Rivera works primarily in woodcut, often combined with collage. She works in series, exploring themes most often connected to the inner workings of the heart, and the world of relationships. More recently, her gaze has turned outward towards social issues. For the past four years she has been creating a series of woodcut portraits of women in history, many of whom have been overlooked. The prints are accompanied by portrait poems written by women poets. Collaborating with fellow artists and writers is a growing part of her practice.
Julie received her BFA in Printmaking from the University of Massachusetts and her MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute. While living in NY, Julie was awarded an Artist Fellowship in Drawing and Artist in Residence grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Arts in Education grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Julie’s arts in education experience in New York includes MOMA, Lincoln Center Institute and the Studio In A School Association. Currently, in addition to teaching workshops at Zea Mays, Julie teaches in the art department at Smith College. She teaches workshops and exhibits her work locally, nationally and internationally. Please visit her website at www.lappingriver.com.
Individualized Instruction
Teaching has always been interwoven with and complementary to my studio practice. I love exploring the technical, formal and aesthetic aspects of the creative process with others on the path. I feel that we are traveling together towards deeper understanding of how, by engaging with the making of images, we can explore our creative ideas with curiosity, discernment and self reflection. In the process, we move towards what is truly meaningful to us in our work. Forty years of making, looking at and teaching art have given me a breadth of knowledge that I enjoy sharing with others. Deep respect for the integrity of your process and a commitment to making the joy of art accessible to all are at the heart of my teaching.