About the Artist
Julie Cornett is a printmaker whose hand-carved linocuts blend magical realism aesthetics with vivid psychedelic elements. Working since 2008, her work is deeply rooted in the high desert and Eastern Sierra, where she lives and draws inspiration. Julie’s prints reflect a metaphysical connection to landforms; mountains, rocks, and desert creatures become symbols of both grounding and transcendence. Through bold colors, whimsical juxtapositions, and stylized natural forms, she explores the spiritual and surreal qualities of the Western landscape. The result is a body of work that feels at once timeless and trippy, earthy and electric.
Julie has studied printmaking through college coursework and virtual workshops; however, she is largely self-taught, developing her practice through years of experimentation and a deepening relationship with the California desert.
Julie’s work has been exhibited at local art shows and museums, and is collected by individuals drawn to her distinct vision of desert mysticism. She currently works out of her studio in Ridgecrest, California, continuing to explore themes of solitude, transformation, and sacred geography through printmaking.
Artists’ Statement
My artwork combines elements from the landscape and surroundings that tell a story about the experience of place. It is rooted in a Magical Realism aesthetic. I experiment with the colors associated with the high desert, but with a different, more personal and subjective take on color and light as expressive elements. My print designs draw from observed phenomena — desert landforms, animals, and desert flora — reimagining them with pictorial construction using bold palettes, clean lines, and the hand-carved texture of linocut printmaking. This fusion of folk tradition and contemporary design reflects a deep reverence for craft and the land I call home: the high desert and Eastern Sierra.
I consider my art practice as a kind of visual myth-making. I use whimsical juxtaposition — like a cactus blooming from a tortoise’s shell — to reframe the ordinary into the surreal. These playful, slightly off-kilter combinations point to the strangeness and wonder embedded in everyday life — and gesture toward the endless ways we might imagine ourselves transformed, reshaped, or reborn.
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