Julianza, Inkling

"Temere Prodiga," enhanced original acrylic, 18" X 24"

I am a writer, editor, performance poet, composer, music teacher, music performer, and visual artist. Art is my life. I truly believe in the "magic" of the creative process, and in the power of artistic expression to enhance the lives of both artist and "audience."  I live to create, and enjoying helping others to be creative too.

"As with her poetry and her music, Shavin's visual art is a mixture of whimsy, a mother's love, social consciousness, memories forged on the anvil of life, and a generous dose of self-doubt (this last quality refers mainly to the self-portraits), all of which adds so much flavor to her work. My personal favorites (so far) are the wonderful watercolor, "Ineffable," and also "Fecundity," both of which focus on, what is to me, the finest accomplishment of any woman. I am also very fond of "Contemplation."  The digital pieces, "The Virtual Child," "Until Death Us Do," and "The Musicians" are among my favorites.  It is hard to pick just a few!"

         -- Jerry Leon Fields, writer and woodcarver

     "Childbride," enhanced photograph

   "Contemplation," watercolor, 11" X 14"

    "The Eternal whY," pen & ink, 12" X 16"

     "Ineffable," watercolor, 16" X 20"

   "The Musicians," enhanced photograph

"The Color of Words," digitally enhanced photograph, 11" X 14"

For sizes of limited edition prints (from originals which have sold) or original paintings, and for pricing and shipping details, please contact me at julianza@comcast.net or info@droppinglikerubies.com.See more artwork in the Gallery section of this site.

Julianza Shavin's incredible talent is always in overdrive.  Words flow so freely from her magic pen one would think her voice is in her fingertips.  In her poem “Perpendicular Universe,” Shavin wrote, 'I wanted to be utterly, redundantly, unique."  She is.

  -- Gene Williamson, journalist,  poet, and novelist

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It is difficult for me to describe the poetry of Ms. Shavin.  I can only "speak" of what it does to me as I read her words.  Some poems are dark.  Some are so personal that they seem almost intimate.  Some are harsh.  All of them are honest and real and I always find myself drawn in by the depth of what is being expressed.  That is not to say that the reader does not have room to imagine and to interpret what Ms. Shavin has created within her verses.  All in all, Julianza writes from her soul and the reader cannot help but become involved.

 -- Regis J. Auffray, poet

                       * * *

Julianza's poems are about real life: personal and intimate, and absolutely visible to the mind’s eye:  palpable, audible, knowable.  She gets so close it almost hurts. Then, just in time, she pulls away, granting a reprieve. Her words and images move along, illuminating something deep and ineffable in their wake.

  -- Janice Black, poet and novelist

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Shavin's writing is an ocean that creates its own waters.  She recycles and re-uses everyday ideas that most people would not notice, or would just throw away, and she puts together a "harlequin suit" from that which is kept. This is barefoot poetry, unpretentious yet meaningful.  The writing "awakens" inanimate objects and gives them life and purpose, even when the purpose may not be what the creator of the object intended. Simply put, Shavin sees both inside and beyond the surface of things. 

 -- Sha'tara Windwalker

    "Tumbleweed," photograph, 14" X 14"

PRAIRIE SONG

In the treeless fields,

tumbleweeds,

round brown skeletons,

rip across the road

faster than cats or rabbits.

We don't hit them.

They flash like skinned

umbrellas

across the pavement

dividing parched plains.

Desolation fills us.

Skeletal remnants

of sheep, cow, elk

fascinate the child,

who covets them,

collects them,

brings some home

to show off.

On the prairie,

the wind blows through them

all night, all day,

making of the bones

wind instruments,

making of mortality,

a music.

-- 2009

Contact Julie