Julia Franklin is a 2018 Iowa Artist Fellow and installation artist who uses found objects to tell stories about what we leave behind, Julia creates immersive environments that are rooted in nostalgia and multi-sensory experiences. These installations have evolved into sets for collaborative performances in her most recent body of work, “Belonging(s),” which re-examines and re-frames her father’s 1990 suicide to address loss, identity, and mental health.
Franklin received an MFA from TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, worked at the Dallas Museum of Art, and served as Professor of Art at Graceland University for 18 years, where she received awards in both Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship. At Graceland, she taught studio and art history courses and founded Art Academy, a summer art camp for children. Franklin now resides in West Des Moines, Iowa, and works at Drake University as the Anderson Gallery Manager. She also assists arts nonprofits with grant writing, leads business of art sessions, juries exhibitions, and maintains a studio where she works on new projects and commissions.
Franklin earned a residency at the Vermont Studio Center and has exhibited artworks in over 85 shows across the nation including the Dubuque Museum of Art, City Museum in St. Louis, the Arlington Museum of Art, and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.