I create for the same reasons I breathe, it’s not a choice, it’s automatic, and it’s necessary for life.”
Julie Kornblum
I love the colors, textures, and properties of yarn and fabric; and I’ve always had an affinity for their construction techniques. The artworks I envision are always rendered with sewing, embroidery, weaving, knotting, knitting, and crochet.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I always wanted to be an artist. But never attracted to drawing or painting, the artworks I envisioned were rendered with fabric, thread, and yarn. From a young age, I was taught the rules, the rights and
wrongs of fiber traditions, weaving and basket making. Simultaneously, I learned to subvert the rules
and traditions.
I focus on the global crisis of plastic pollution. I use cast off, surplus, and waste: recycled copper wire, one-time-use plastic bags and bits. The palette is deceptively bright and cheery, the color story of plastic
packaging. These disposable items are products, and sitting on store shelves they must attract customers, like so many brightly plumaged birds, looking for mates.
These materials belong solely to the modern age. Physically, they are by-products of industrialization. Conceptually, one-time-use, surplus, disposability, and waste are modern inventions. What we throw away stays around and will haunt us for who knows how long.
BIO
Fiber artist Julie Kornblum practices some of the oldest hand crafting processes while addressing the immediacy of the plastic pollution crisis. She weaves, knits, crochets, and makes baskets from the stuff we all throw away: surplus, discarded, and disposable materials.
Over the past 20 years, Julie has exhibited widely, has been published in books and magazines, has curated art exhibitions, and has coordinated large public yarnbombing projects. She often
speaks to guilds and groups about the plastic pollution crisis that informs her artwork and teaches workshops.
Julie’s love of fiber arts is rooted among her earliest memories of her mother at the sewing machine. Her grandmother knit and crocheted constantly and taught her to crochet during a family summer trip from Arizona to their hometown in Pennsylvania. She learned to sew in Junior High, and also explored embroidery, crochet, macramé, batik.
Upon arriving in LA at the age of twenty, her only real skill was sewing. Sewing for income lead to the Fashion Design program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, and to becoming a
pattern maker in the garment industry. Marriage and children followed. Julie taught Fashion Design at Otis College of Art and Design for seven years while attending Pierce College at night,
and then transferred to California State University Northridge to complete her bachelor’s degree in Art.
CV
Education
Certificate in Fashion Design, Los Angeles Trade Technical College, 1984
Bachelor of Art, in Art, California State University Northridge, 2002
Curatorial Projects
Forest for the Trees, Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, CA 2019
Baskets Uncontained, Ontario International Airport, Ontario, CA. 2014
Connecting Threads at LAX, Los Angeles World Airports Art Program. 2012
Designing Weavers World of Fiber, Bungalow Gallery, Long Beach, CA. 2012
Fiber 2010, Brandstater Gallery, La Sierra University, Riverside, CA. 2010
Fiber 2010 West, Studio Channel Islands Art Gallery, Camarillo, CA. 2010
Community Art Projects
Reseda Yarn Garden, Getty 25, Reseda Summer Arts Fest, 2022
California Yarnscape, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA. 2017
Yarnopolis by Yarnbombing Los Angeles Grand Central Market, Los Angeles, CA. 2014
Surroundings by Yarnbombing Los Angeles Manhattan Beach Art Center, Manhattan Beach, CA. 2014
La Sierra Yarn Mural, Riverside Art Make, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA. 2014
Bibliography
Knitstips, Contributor 2022
Handwoven, January/February 2018
60 Second Docs -Yarnbombing 2017
Fiber Art Now, Summer, 2013
Studios Magazine, Spring, 2012
Surface Design Journal, Exposure, Winter, 2012
Santa Monica by Jeffery Crussell; 2010
Fantastic Recycled Plastic by David Edgar, Robin A. Edgar; Lark Books, 2009
Rozome Robes for Global Healing, Surface Design Journal, Fall, 2002
Commissions
The Elder Statesman, Custom Ugg Boots, 2022
Tom Ford Design Studio, Crochet Bikini, original design, 2020
Sole Technology, Etnies Shoes Video props, 2016
Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards Yarnbombing, Santa Monica, CA 2015
Wells Fargo Green Team Trophy, Traveling intra-company award, Coiled Basketry, 2012-14
Window Shade Fabric, 24 yards handwoven fabric, hand dyed yarn and fabric strips, Private Home, 2013
L + S Wedding Yarnbomb, Lead artist for Yarnbombing Los Angeles artist collective, 2013
Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Invitational exhibition. 2012
Recent Exhibitions
Art in Embassies, US Department of State, Tallinn, Estonia, 2023
Art in Embassies, US Department of State, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei 2022
Surface Design Association Regional Exhibition, Tubac, AZ 2022
Dogwood to Kudzu, Handweavers Guild of America Convergence, Knoxville, TN 2022
Mandalas, Loading Dock Gallery, Lowell, MA, 2021
10th Annual ‘All Women’ Online Art Competition, Light Space Time, Online, 2021
Tarfest 2020: Transition, Lunch LA, Los Angeles, CA 2020
Celebration of Art 2020 All-Media Show, Marin Society of Artists, San Rafael, CA 2020
California Dreaming, Village Theatre Art Gallery, Danville, CA 2020
Featured Artist, StitchSpace LA Grand Opening, Sherman Oaks, CA 2019
California Fibers: A Matter of Time, SOKA University, Aliso Viejo, CA 2018
Fiber Art VIII, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA 2018
Yarnbombing Los Angeles Retrospective, Brand Library Art Gallery, Glendale, CA 2016
California Fibers: Eclectic Threads, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA 2016
Diverted Destruction, The Loft at Liz’s, Los Angeles, CA 2015
California Fibers, Atrium Galley, Ventura, CA 2015
Vogue Knitting Live Artist Gallery, Las Vegas, NV 2015
Exhibition History
2014
American Trash eARThWe Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA 2014
Muzeo, Anaheim, CA
Home Makers, Cypress Park Artwalk, Los Angeles, CA
Earth Day, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA
La Sierra Yarn Mural, Riverside Art Make, La Sierra Community Center, Riverside,
Fem Slam, Newhall Old Town, Santa Clarita, CA
Sudden Impact, 11:11 A Creative Collective Traveling Gallery, Reseda, CA
Fun a Day Reseda, Reseda, CA
California Fibers, Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, Ojai, CA
California Fibers, SOKA University Founders Hall Gallery, Aliso Viejo,CA
Coast to Coast, Visions Art Museum, San Diego, CA
2013
Folk Art Everywhere, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Levels, Studio Channel Islands Art Gallery, Camarillo, CA
Fabricate, Surface Design Association Fashion Show, San Antonio, TX
Green Life Gallery Exhibition, Mission Viejo, CA
Vogue Knitting Live Artist Gallery, Bellevue, WA
Studio Channel Islands Fashion Show, Black board Gallery, Camarillo, CA
Definitions, San Fernando Valley Arts Council, Canoga Park Youth Art Center, Canoga Park, CA
Refuse to Destroy: Re-Imagined, Re-Purposed, Re-Used, 11:11 A Creative Collective, Cella Gallery, North Hollywood, CA
Car Slam, Newhall Old Town, Santa Clarita, CA
Innovations in Contemporary Craft, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
California Fibers, Defined, Merced Art Center, Merced, CA
Designing Weavers Survey of Fiber Art, Buena Park City Hall, Buena Park, CA
2012
Folk Art Everywhere, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Lion Brand Yarn Studio, Site specific artwork created by invitation, New York, NY
Just California, McGroarty Arts Center, Tujunga, CA
Faces & Places, St. Johns, FL
Refuse/Reseen, Some Things Looming, Reading, PA
Designing Weavers Timeless Textiles, Studio Channel Islands Art Center, Camarillo, CA
Handweavers Guild of America Small Expressions, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
California Fibers, Here and Now, Marilyn Werby Gallery, California State University, Long Beach, CA
Entanglement, Cambria Center for the Arts, Cambria, CA
Portals, Art for All People, Malibu, CA
California Fibers, Defined, Merced Arts Center, Merced, CA
2011
Finegood Art Gallery Closing Exhibition, Woodland Hills, CA
LA Municipal Art Gallery, slide registry members show, Los Angeles, CA
Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
The Art of Recycling, Muzeo, Anaheim, CA
2010
This ‘n That, Ontario International Airport, Ontario, CA
Cutting Edge, Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
Zest for Art, Gallerie Rheeway, Los Angeles, CA
Santa Monica – The Art of Summer, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
The Mannequin Collective, Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA
Green Wave, Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY
Encinitas Environmental Art Exhibit, 2010, Encinitas, CA
Materiality, ARC Gallery, Chicago, Ill
Women’s Work, Northwest Area Art Council, Woodstock, Ill
Small Expressions, Convergence ’10, Albuquerque, NM
2009
Revisions: New Creations From Scrap, San Francisco, CA
Studio Channel Islands Art Center Member Exhibition, Camarillo, CA
Palos Verdes Art Center Juried All Media Exhibition, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Focus on Fiber II, Studio Channel Islands Art Center, Camarillo, CA
Times of Transformation, Arthaus66 Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
National Fiber Directions Exhibition 2009, Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, KS
Designing Weavers Personal Best, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
Progress and Ideals, 21st Century Arts & Crafts, Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA
Fine Contemporary Crafts, ArtSpace, Raleigh, NC
2008
Julie Kornblum; Past, Preservation, & Future, solo exhibition, Brooker Creek Environmental Education Center, Tarpon Springs, FL
National Fiber Arts Exhibition, Escondido Municipal Art Gallery, Escondido, CA
Designing Weavers Side Show, ArtCenter Manatee, Bradenton, FL
River of Grass, Convergence ’08, Tampa, FL
Earth, 2nd City Council Art Gallery, Long Beach, CA. Curator: Kim Abeles.
2007
The Art and Science of Climate Change, Brandstater Gallery, La Sierra University, Riverside, CA
Global Warming, Artists Speak, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
EcoArt, Junior Arts Center Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Of the Earth, 2 nd City Art Gallery, Long Beach, CA. Curator: Carol Savion
Outside the Box, Studio Channel Islands Art Center, Camarillo, CA
Journeys, VIVA Gallery, Sherman Oaks, CA
Palos Verdes Art Center All Media Exhibition, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Express Yourself in Fiber, Kendall College of Art & Design, Grand Rapids, MI
Grand Ideas, Kendall College of Art & Design, Grand Rapids, MI
2004 Envisioning the Future, Facilitators: Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman. Pomona, CA
2003 Transitions; New Works in Fiber, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2001 Art Flows Through Fiber, Finegood Gallery, Woodland Hills, CA.
2001 GA GA for LA LA, Juror: Elsa Longhauser. Eye-five Gallery, The Brewery, Los Angeles, CA
2000 Narrative Pierce College Art Gallery, Group Exhibition.
2002, 1999 & 1996 CSUN Student Art Show, CSUN Art Gallery, Juried Exhibition.
1995 CSUN Student Art Show, Post Earthquake Campus Wide Open Call.