Seven Coffee Roasters December 2017 Featured Artist - Julia Rouse

 This month we sit down with our December Artist of the month, Julia Rouse, from Port Townsend, WA.  

How do you explain your artistic style? What mediums/ tools do you work with?

I am a collage artist, using magazine photos almost exclusively. Because anyone can do it, no matter their art skills, I consider collage “the people’s art.” Had I not found and used these images, they would likely have been recycled or thrown away; beauty and meaning are resurrected from trash.

From what/ from where do you draw artistic inspiration?

Inspiration rises from my personal experiences and struggles, as well as from dreams, fantasies, and the eternal mythologies and symbols that offer themselves from my unconscious and from the collective unconscious. Shamanic journeying has also been a source of imagery and connection. To create these collages, I use my version of C.G. Jung’s practice of Active Imagination. A psychotherapist, I have developed and taught myVisionary Collage workshops for over 20 years.

Images may offer themselves, persist from collage to collage, then transform. Through relationship with these images, I have become more familiar with my own personal symbolic language.  

How do you define “artist?” Have you always considered yourself an artist? Was there a specific time or moment when you began to define yourself as such?

The term “artist’ defies definition—ways to live creatively are limitless. I have not always considered myself an artist. Five years ago, sorting my collages as examples for presenting my nextVisionary Collage workshop, I realized I had created a body of work and must claim the title of artist for myself, a title I’d always held in reverence.

Briefly describe your life—outside of artistic creation-- hobbies, work, family, etc.

I work as a psychotherapist in private practice in my Victorian home,Metaphor House, in Port Townsend, Washington. I have two creative grown children, and a sweetheart in Seattle. I enjoy walks in nature, biking, yoga, reading, travel, discussing the meaning of life with friends. I belong to two Jungian-oriented groups, one a weekly reading group, the other a women’s creativity group. I require a double latte daily, often two. You might see me on a weekend inSeven Market and Café, reading a novel.

Please tell us about your connections to the Seven Market.

I’m a snob about coffee and novels. And a few other things. In my opinion,Sevenserves the best coffee in Seattle.

Contact:  jarouse@q.com , especially if you are interested in taking aVisionary Collageworkshop.