Julie Martini is a visual artist working in drawing, painting, sculpture and installation. Her work is rooted in the material exploration of paper, and she blends traditional paper crafts with a contemporary approach to painting and sculpture.
Julie’s work begins with the creation of patterned papers- made using Japanese suminagashi paper marbling, papermaking, and resist techniques. The papers are then painted, sprayed with ink, torn, and recombined into new fantastical constructs. Some become paintings and collages, and others are assembled into paper sculptures.
Julie also creates sculptures that begin with hand-built clay forms, hand drawn matrixes, or 3d scans that are manipulated with digital modeling/fabrication.
Her work includes references to NASA images, microscope photography, music, and humanist writing. She is inspired by memory, care, and the magic of the natural world.
Her studio is in Jamaica Plain, MA.
Sweet Pea, Ink, handmade paper, cotton, wire , 45 in h. x 40 in w., 2026.
Midnight Fountain, Pochoir print on mulberry paper, 36" x 25", Edition of 4, 2025.
Listen, 12.75"h x 9.75" w, Pochoir and suminigashi on mulberry paper, Edition of 4, 2025
Whirlpool, Suminigashi, pochoir, and watercolor on washi paper, 2024.
Floating, suminagashi, paint, collage, and thread on handmade paper, 42 in. x 59 in., 2024.
Fan, suminagashi, paint, collage on handmade paper, 2024.
Everything Moves Like Water (Diptych), suminagashi, paint, and ink on stonehenge paper, 60 in. x 43.5 in., 2024.
September 8, 2024, handmade paper and head, 2024.