Biography
Julie McLaughlin is an American artist based in Coralville, Iowa, whose multidisciplinary practice spans printmaking, handmade papermaking, and textile-inspired sculpture. Born in 1953, she came to the visual arts through an unconventional path, initially studying theater and working as a costume designer in professional theater. It was during her theater studies that she took an etching class with a printmaker, an encounter that redirected her creative energies toward the graphic arts and the material possibilities of paper.
Since the early 1990s, McLaughlin has been making paper by hand and exploring its sculptural potential, pushing the boundaries between paper and textiles with increasing ambition. Her practice centers on kozo fiber, a traditional Japanese bast fiber used in washi papermaking, which she works into large sheets sometimes measuring six by nine feet. These monumental sheets of handmade paper serve as the foundation for both sculptural works and wearable paper garments that challenge conventional distinctions between fine art, craft, and fashion.
McLaughlin's artistic evolution has moved from sculptural work based on the corseted silhouette to wearable paper garments, with the Japanese kimono form emerging as her primary matrix for both sculptural and wearable art. Her technique of joomchi felting, a Korean method of bonding multiple layers of handmade paper through moisture and agitation, allows her to create paper with textile-like properties, drape, and durability. Works such as 'Winter Solstice' (2015), constructed from kozo papers with fiber reactive dyes and joomchi felting, exemplify her ability to transform fragile paper into garment-scale sculpture.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Keokuk Art Center, Central College in Pella, Iowa, the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory in Cleveland, the Dubuque Museum of Art, and Grinnell College's Faulconer Gallery. McLaughlin is represented in the Verne Collection, which has featured her paper-based works alongside Japanese prints and paintings, reflecting the deep connection between her practice and Japanese material traditions.
Key Facts
- Active Period
- 1953
- Nationality
- 🇺🇸United States
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Subjects
- AbstractSnow Scenes
- Works Indexed
- 3
Frequently Asked Questions
Julie McLaughlin is an American artist based in Coralville, Iowa, whose multidisciplinary practice spans printmaking, handmade papermaking, and textile-inspired sculpture. Born in 1953, she came to the visual arts through an unconventional path, initially studying theater and working as a costume designer in professional theater. It was during her theater studies that she took an etching class with a printmaker, an encounter that redirected her creative energies toward the graphic arts and the material possibilities of paper.
Julie McLaughlin was active born in 1953. They were associated with the Contemporary Mokuhanga movement.
Julie McLaughlin's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
Julie McLaughlin's prints frequently feature abstract, snow scenes.
