Bonifay teaching her daughter how to warp a frame loom.
CAL aims to help artists succeed, whether that's offering skill building classes, the opportunity to exhibit work in our gallery, or sell work in our Gift Gallery. Our Artist on Display series invites you to get to know our artists a little bit better!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Julie Bonifay is a self-taught weaver from California, but weaving wasn’t always her medium of choice.
JB: I weave because it helps to calm my mind. I've always been an over-thinker who has a hard time relaxing - weaving provides me with a sense of ease in my life.
JB: I started weaving in 2012 shortly after my daughter was born. Prior to that I would create hard-edge geometric paintings. After I had my daughter I was finding it hard to make time and space to paint in our tiny one bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. I started thinking of ways that I could maintain my creativity with a different medium and I ended up watching a ton of videos on lap loom weaving. I loved weaving right away even though it took several years for me to be happy with the outcome of my weavings.
PROCESS EVOLUTION
JB: My practice has changed over time due to finding the right materials to match the simplistic designs I like to create. I work with cotton crochet thread which is much finer than the synthetic fibers that I started out working with.
JB: Also, my husband now designs and makes my looms which double as frames for my work. I had been trying to figure out a way to frame my work instead of taking it off the loom and mounting it with a dowel or rod.
JB: Once my husband designed the double-sided loom I started working with only one color, which had been a goal of mine for a long time. I wasn't sure how to make a monochrome weaving on a single-sided loom interesting and adding that second layer seemed to create a dimension that made it possible.
ARTIST HISTORY
JB: I have a degree in Hospitality Management. I've held positions in hotel sales departments doing accounting for large convention hotels and boutique hotels. This left no room for creativity and I needed something to fill that side of my identity.
JB: I'm a big fan of the mid-century modern era and I feel my work reflects that. I tend to prefer simplicity and minimalism.
