Julie Paez Members Exhibition Feature;
For artist Julie Paez, every piece begins with the land — with materials shaped by weather, time, and touch, and with stories rooted in the natural cycles of growth, decay, and renewal. Drawing from rusted metal, seed pods, aged wood, and gathered vines, Julie creates work that feels connected to place and history, inviting viewers to consider how objects carry memory and meaning. In the 2025 Touchstone Members Exhibition, her pieces made from materials found in and around campus echo the landscape of Touchstone itself: textured, weathered, alive with possibility. Julie’s art asks us to slow down, look closely, and remember the stories that live in the natural world and in the materials we choose to transform.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milkweedmadonna/
Website: https://milkweedmadonna.com/
Read more about Julie’s work in this interview by Andrew Thornton, Touchstone Communications Committee member, professional artist, and Co-Owner of Allegory Gallery and Star Cottage Studio.
What is your Touchstone story? How did you first hear about it and what drew you to be involved?
I was at the (American Craft Council) Baltimore Craft Show and stopped by the booth to get information on Art Classes. I selected 2 from Touchstone Totemic Creatures & Basket Making. I was looking for classes to “up” my process and to create more polished professional gallery ready work.
Can you tell us about your journey as an artist—where did it begin, how has it evolved?
I pursued a career in art in my late 20’s & 30’s. But paying the rent got in the way!!! Now retired from a business I founded twenty years ago and in my 70’s I set up a studio and returned to making art. Free from the constraints of focusing on earning a living I can now follow the roads that appeal to me.
How do you describe your work(s) in the Touchstone Members Exhibition? Where did you find inspiration?
My work is very organic ~ I look to tell Creation Stories that lead the viewer into a forgotten world when we honored the magic of creation.
What’s something unique about your process, materials, or approach?
The materials that I chose have a history: rusted metal, seed pods that have bloomed feed pollinators and are now ready to seed new life; discarded wood sometimes weathered or burned, often removed from homes during renovations; and vines that are favorites components as they lend a feeling of ancientness and decay.
How do you hope viewers engage with or interpret your work? What would you like them to take away?
For the pieces in the exhibition everything came from in and around Touchstone and were made in the classes. All the metal was scrap from the Blacksmithing studio and destined to be smelted
What does it mean to you to be featured in an exhibition at Touchstone?
I learned so much from my 2 classes and am pleased to be included in this exhibition.
Visit the 2025 Touchstone Members Exhibition, on view through December 20, 2025, in the Bea Campbell Gallery at Touchstone in Farmington, PA. Click for gallery hours.
