Julie Siracusa Going with the Flow Julie Siracusa was born in the mid 1960’s in a small southern Louisiana town, Morgan City. At an early age she began drawing and creating collage pieces. By the time she was five, her mother enrolled her in her first formal painting class. The teacher told her mother that his class was not a babysitting service. Her mother responded with, “She’s not your average child, give her one class and you can decide if she is mature enough”. One class extended to the full summer session with Siracusa winning several awards for her early paintings. Siracusa’s mother is an expert seamstress. Her creative influence gave her daughter the tools and support to create whenever she wanted to express herself. She knew she was an artist as long as she can remember. Creative expression is not just a desire, it is her way of life. Siracusa’s father raced hydroplane boats professionally. The family would travel to the gulf coast and throughout Florida for the races. This is where she realized how much she loved water. In grade school, when a project offered a venue for drawing and sculpting she would participate. One of these first opportunities was a science project. Siracusa chose dinosaurs. She sculpted T-Rex, Triceratops and a Brontosaurus and created a prehistoric landscape for their display. Her backdrop featured large drawings of these magnificent creatures with facts about their characteristics. She would enter every science and social studies fair and most always won best in show. All of Siracusa’s school age years were busy with activities. From age four to nine she was a member of the local swim team which competed in swim meets throughout the state. When she was nine she began riding and showing quarter horses. Siracusa’s high school offered art class as an elective. She called that her “hour off”. She enjoyed her academics classes, especially mathematics, but art class was her comfort zone. At the end of each school year she would be invited to the awards ceremony thinking it was for the art award. Each year she was surprised by the math award as well. Because of her interests, college brought the study of architecture and fine art at the University of Southwest Louisiana in Lafayette. Siracusa’s time in architecture gave her the tools for problem solving for any project. This training paved the way for her to design and build her home, which is a centrifuge for her creativity. Her advanced drawing skills allowed her to complete her 100 level courses and be promoted to 400 level courses directly after. After college, Siracusa worked as a graphic designer. She took on freelance projects and began to build a client base. One of these freelance projects was window design for the local mall. Occupancy was low and the mall wanted the empty spaces to look fresh. Nine storefronts later and a couple all-nighters and the project was a success. Because of this project, the mall manager asked Siracusa to curate an artists’ group in a vacant space. It was called Artists of Acadiana. She organized openings with musicians from the local symphony orchestra and finger food from the food court vendors. Siracusa’s media contacts promoted the events at no charge. During this time, she was a guest on a Saturday morning radio talk show. One of the artists from the group would join her each week and have a little theater-of-the-mind talking about art. In 1996 she started Siracusa Design and has specialized in branding companies with strong images that anchor them well in the business community. In recent years Siracusa has chosen to dedicate more time to her true passion, fine art, painting specifically. Now we go back in time to see the inspiration for her current work. After college, her travels expanded from the US coast to Europe and the Caribbean. Most trips were planned on the water. From beaches to chartering boats hopping from island to island. Siracusa has been at home on the water since she was a child at the boat races. Water, as Siracusa’s subject matter, is a natural. Siracusa developed her technique through exploring realism. She had a self-imposed belief that an abstract artist must master realism before embarking on abstraction. Her studies of the great masters of architecture and art led her to drawing and painting details of notable architecture and sculpture along with her original creations. After many works in graphite, oil pastel, mosaic tile, clay, wire sculpture and acrylic on canvas, Siracusa’s true technique and style came to life. All of this study and honing of her skills led her to painting her early love. Water was now on her easel. The colorful reflections, the driven currents and the shear energy of H2O has launched her into great depths of fluid exploration. When Siracusa is asked about her artistic influence, she prefaces her response with talking about the architects and artists that she admires. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bernini, Le Corbusier, Gaudi and Mario Botta to name a few. That said, she does not have any influences for her technique and style. She is navigating her way into a minimalistic abys of creative originality. Her studio is in her home in Lafayette, Louisiana. The space is adjacent to her bedroom. Literally, Siracusa can see her easel through glass French doors when she goes to bed at night and when she wakes in the morning. This proximity gives ample contemplation for the next move on her canvas. A constant in any of Siracusa’s creative endeavors is music. The moment the music resonates in her studio, the creative juices begin to flow. She enjoys a wide range of music, from modern classical to soul and many genres in between. People that see Siracusa’s art are moved by the fluid nature of her pieces. Her attention to detail gives the viewer many levels of interest to explore. Everyone can identify with the action of such a basic element, H2O. When Siracusa’s is away from her easel, she can be found doting over her pups, Kira and Tuffy. These two are truly family members. They are both rescues and have big personalities. Kira is all about water. She swims, floats on rafts and chases after anything to do with water. Definitely a match made in heaven. Tuffy came from a difficult start before his rescue. Siracusa and her husband, Ricky Brabner, have lovingly rehabilitated him by gaining his trust so he can be a happy and playful pup. Tuffy is not much on swimming, but he is content with the first step of the pool. Most recently, Siracusa discovered No Shoes Reefs, created by Kenny Chesney to raise awareness and to support for our ocean habitat. She recognized instantly that she wanted to partner with the group as an artist. Currently, Siracusa is an active partner creating original art and graphics that is donated to help raise funds. These projects include creations for marine laboratories, Coastal Conservation Association and graphics for No Shoes Reefs partners. A percentage of the sales of this merchandise goes to Reef Ball Foundation that coordinates with agencies around the world to rebuild diminishing reef systems. In the first quarter of 2021, Siracusa painted her interpretation of the No Shoes Reefs logo on 12” x 12” canvases and painted small reef balls with her interpretation of a flourishing reef system. Shewas able to donate $1560.00 to Reef Ball Foundation for future reef rebuilding projects. Siracusa has noted that her work with No Shoes Reefs has energized her creativity and has even created an evolution in her work. “I am grateful to be working with such and amazing crew and able to give back at the same time.” - Julie Siracusa Creating high quality art that brings joy to people has always been Siracusa’s mission. Kindness to family, friends and anyone she encounters is what you will see when you meet Julie Siracusa.