Brought as a baby to England by well-traveled parents, Julie Puma spent her first fourteen years there with summers spent in her native Brooklyn. Her earliest memory of art is at age five when her mother gave her a set of oil paints which she used to paint a flower on a Styrofoam meat package. Only a year later her mother would pass away from breast cancer. Her father remarried and his work with IBM moved Julie, her sister, and the new family back to the United States where they settled in the Chicago area. An interest in art wasn’t apparent in high school, but after graduating from Western Illinois State University, Julie went on to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to achieve a Masters of Art in Art Therapy. Her passion for painting was kindled as she practiced art therapy while experiencing its healing powers for herself and deepening her own creative talent.

Julie made her way to Colorado to care for her sister who was also afflicted with breast cancer. Here she met her husband, gave birth to a daughter, and continued to refine and cultivate her artistic growth. Fueled by her family tragedies, Julie’s painting and art evolved as a means for greater communication and exploration of social and political themes. She earned a second Master’s degree in Fine Art in Visual Art with the Vermont College of Fine Art. Currently, Julie is a full-time Faculty Member in Foundations at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Denver. Julie’s work has been exhibited nationally and locally in several solo and collaborative shows since 1997. Prized by collectors, her drawings and paintings are personal and powerful, resonant and relevant contemporary realism.

Follow My Messy Beautiful Life!

JULIE PUMA { MAAT / MFA }

1859 Clermont Street, Denver, Colorado 80220

303-882-7597 /  / juliepuma.com

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 { EXHIBITIONS }

 Solo Shows

2024. Leon Gallery, Denver, Colorado

2020. Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, Colorado

2018. Western Colorado Center for the Arts, Grand Junction, Colorado

2017 Firehouse Art Center, Longmont Colorado

2016 Rude Gallery, Denver Colorado

2013 Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder Colorado – The Immortal Jelly Fish

2012 Ice cube gallery, Denver Colorado – Let’s get it straight

2010 Rude Gallery, Denver Colorado – Early Onset

2010. Space Gallery, Denver Colorado - Home

2006. Space Gallery, Denver Colorado - The pink and Green Afterlife

2005 Singer Gallery, Denver Colorado - Letter’s to Stanley

2005 Studio Aiello, Denver Colorado - Dear Diary

2003 Pirate: A contemporary Art Oasis, Denver Colorado - Manor House Races

2002. Pirate: A contemporary Art Oasis, Denver Colorado - Post Card’s From Barbie

{Collaborative Projects}

2026    Beach Day, Hyperlink Art Collective, Meow Wolf, Denver CO

2026    Beach Day, Hyperlink Art Collective, Experience Gallery/Denver Center for Performing Arts in conjunction with Performance art week, Denver CO

2024    Beach Day, Hyperlink Art Collective in conjunction with Tryst Art Fair/Torrance art Museum, Torrance CA

2023    Banana I love you, Hyperlink Art Collective in conjunction with Tryst Art Fair/Torrance Art Museum, Torrance CA

ARTIST RESIDENCIES

Redline Contemporary Art Center- The Evans School Studio Residency, November 2022 - October 2024

 The School of Visual Art, NY, The Artists Residency Program July 2020

 Open Wabi Residency, Fredericktown, OH, Artist Residency July 2018

 Arts Letters and Numbers, Averill NY, Artist Residency May 2017

 Living Gallery Residency, Phillip J. Steele Gallery, Denver CO May 2015

 {PRESS}

2025 Move Over, Millennial Gray: Girl Goo Exhibit Embraces Being Messy

2024 3 art exhibitions to see right now in Denver, The Denver Post

2024 Voyage Denver, Conversations with Julie Puma

2023 Showing Face, The Daily Camera

2023, Southwest Contemporary Art, Hyperlink and Land Report Collective Re-Activate a Uranium Mine Ghost Town in Remote Wyoming

2020. Westword Magazine - 100 Colorado Creatives - a-honored-as-a-colorado-creative-11786071

2020 The Sentry- Emmanuel Gallery exhibit explores memory through portraiture- - http://cu-sentry.com/tag/julie-puma/

2020. CU Denver News - Snapchat Paintings & Front-Line Realism: Julie Puma at Emmanuel Gallery

2016    Month of Modern - The Culture of Modern: Colorado Modern Artists - http://www.monthofmodern.com/the-culture-of-modern-colorado-modern-artists/

2016    Art Slant Magazine  

2013    Daily Camera ‘Pick of the Day The immortal Jellyfish”

2013    Boulder Weekly “The immortal Jelly Fish”

2013    5280 “Best Bets  "The Immortal Jellyfish”

2013    Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art announces BMoCA at Macky exhibition with Julie Puma More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/64708/Boulder-Museum-of-Contemporary-Art-announces-BMoCA-at-Macky-exhibition-with-Julie-Puma#.U6MBOqjc3dA[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

2012    Live Urban Real Estate 

2010    Westword Magazine  - Edge is filled to the rafters with artist pairings - https://www.westword.com/arts/edge-is-filled-to-the-rafters-with-artist-pairings-5106768

2007    Denver Post, “Foothills exhibit proves realism isn’t so real” - Kyle MacMillan

2006    Denver Post , “Realism is Alive and Well” - Kyle MacMillan

2006    Rocky Mountain News, “Portraits of survival Painter Puma takes radical steps to deliver message -         Mary Voelz Chandler

2005    Westword Magazine - “Alternating Currents” - Michael Paglia

2005    Rocky Mountain News - “incognito follows a career” - Mary Voelz Chandler

2005    Jewish Community Center - Centerline/Arts Line- “On the Wall”

2005    Denver Post - Friday Best Bets - 09/02/05 - Kyle MacMillan

2005    Denver Post - “1 More” - Kyle MacMillan

2005    Denver Post “Art work born of a tragic family history” - David Harsanyi

2003    Westword Magazine - Art Beat” - Michael Paglia

2003    Westword Magazine - “Now showing” Westword calendar reviews