I have been working to create a natural oasis on my urban property for many years. My surroundings permeate my work and I use images from what I see or imagine might be there. I have also painted landscapes for many years. But the garden, which I walk through to get to my studio, is my most constant and immediate source of inspiration: the way the pathways meet the rocks, plants finding their way through the metal gates, the ever-changing light and weather, these impressions all feed my visual compositions. Birds entered my work unexpectedly a few years ago. I needed a wedding gift for my brother whose hobby is birdwatching. With their arresting poses, energy and antics, birds provided everything I want in my work: drama, design, beauty. They immediately became a favorite subject.
Painter and printmaker Julie Zahn was raised in Bethesda, Maryland. Her mother, artist Ann Zahn, operated a professional printmaking studio. After college, Julie spent several years in a countryside town in Japan painting landscapes and still-lifes. After returning to the States, she enrolled in the 4-year Certificate program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She was awarded a travel scholarship upon graduation and spent a year in Kyoto working with an antique screen restorer. Toward the end of her stay there, she discovered katazome or Japanese stencil dyeing, a paste-resist technique traditionally used for textiles. Attracted by its painterly quality, she adapted it to paper using acrylics and pigments with gojiru, a soybean binder, creating paintings with a printmaking element. She uses katazome, woodcut and painting to create her distinct, recognizable work. Her studio is in East Mt. Airy and she exhibits regularly in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
1991
Apprentice, Japanese screen restorer
1986 - 1990
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Certificate Program
Earlham College, BA English Literature & French
1996
6th Annual Juried Watercolor Exhibition, 3rd prize, Hopkins House, Camden, NJ
1994
Dream Images, exhibition, 3rd prize, Manayunk Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA
1993
Joseph S. Wohl Memorial Award, Main Line Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
1989
Works on Paper, 2nd prize for student work, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1987
Windsor Newton Painting Award, Rittenhouse Square Fine Arts Annual, Philadelphia, PA
1990
The J. Henry Schiedt Memorial Traveling Scholarship
The Cape May County Arts League Teaching Internship
ARCO Chemical Co. Purchase Prize
Jeanne Culver Prize
1989
Woodcut Purchase Prize, Special Notice
The Franklin C. Watkins Memorial Grant
Louis and Estelle Pearson Memorial Prize
1988
Traditional Media Print Prize
Cathedral Village Art Teacher
2017-present
Conshohocken Arts League, Faculty
2017-present
Allens Lane Art Center, Figure drawing monitor (weekly)
Workshops on Japanese stencil dyeing and mixed-media techniques
2012
Annual Show, Juror, Ocean City NJ Arts League
March 2010, April 2013
Curator, Penn Charter Triennial Art Show
2006, 2007
Curator, Exhibitions at St. Asaphs Gallery for Philadelphia Open Studio Tours
2003-2005 2003-2005
Art Teacher, Classroom on Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA
1998-2001
Art Classes, Manayunk Art Center
1991
Apprentice to antique screen restorer, Kyoto Japan
2024
New Now VII, InLiquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2022
Solo Show, Awbury Arboretum, Philadelphia, PA
2019
Visions of Travel, 3-person exhibit, The Gallery at The Hill at Whitemarsh, MD
Syrian Refugee Benefit Exhibit, Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, Philadelphia, PA
2018
Solo Show, Lower Shore Land Trust, Snow Hill, MD
Juxtaposed, Solo show, Cerulean Arts, Philadelphia, PA
The Woodcut, Cerulean Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Curated by Dan Miller
2017
A Starling in Shadow, Cerulean Arts, Philadelphia, PA
curated by Bill Scott
2016
Layers of Landscape: Views of an Island, Solo show, Bethesda Library
2015
Solo show, Allens Lane Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
2014
Solo show, Cosmopolitan Club, Philadelphia, PA
2012
Exhibit Honoring the PA Academy of the Fine Arts, Artists’ House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010
Nichols Berg Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010-present
Harrington Group, Marketplace Design Center, Barnegat, NJ
2010
Inaugural Alumni Exhibition, PAFA Alumni Sales Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
9th Anniversary Celebration & Benefit Exhibition, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1996, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2009
Django, Solo Shows, The Gallery at St. Asaph’s, Bala Cynwyd, PA
2007
Solo Show, Episcopal Academy, Merion, PA.
2005
Solo Show, The Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, PA
2004
Woodmere Art Museum Annual Juried Show, Philadelphia, PA
2001-2008, 2014-2017, 2021-2023
Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, Philadelphia, PA
2001, 2023
Juried Art Exhibition, Juried Art Show, William Penn Charter, Philadelphia, PA
2003
Woodcut Prints with Wharton Esherick, (2 person exhibit) Cosmopolitan Club, Philadelphia, PA
In-Depth (4 artists), Main Line Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
Summers 2003-2008
Frenchboro Historical Society, Frenchboro, ME
1997
West Chester Art Association (2-person show), West Chester, PA
1996
First Alumni Invitational, Earlham College, Richmond, IN
1994
Creative Partners Gallery, (guest artist) Bethesda, MD
Edition of woodblock prints for Washington Area Printmakers Calendar 2001-2012
Edition of woodblock prints for Pa. Acad. of the Fine Arts Women’s Committee 1991
