“BREEZY DAY” is the title painting in a news series of paintings by Julia Waco that will be on display Portland’s Attic Gallery Feb. 5-March 5. A criminal defense attorney who also has served at a pro-tem judge, Waco’s paintings reveal nothing about that part of her life, focusing instead, according to the artist, on birdies, eggs, nests, lollipop flowers, cotton candy trees and cottages.Below: ARTIST Julia Waco and her daughter.

Daughter inspires Julia Waco’s paintings

New show coming to Attic Gallery

By KAPLAN TUTTLEBAUM

article created on: 2009-01-15T00:00:00

An exhibit of new paintings by Julia Waco will open Thursday, Feb. 5, at Portland’s Attic Gallery.

The exhibit, entitled “Breezy Day,” was inspired by Waco’s 20-month-old daughter Marla. It features birdies dancing among the artist’s signature lollipop flowers.

Waco’s acrylics on canvas are executed in brightly colored jewel tones and glazes. She said this series is especially suitable for children’s rooms.

Some of the featured flowers have shapes that are subtly derived from shapes of Jewish articles such as the hanukkiah, the hamsa and the mezuzah.

“Having my daughter really involved us in a closer connection to the Jewish community,” said Waco. “We had a very special baby-naming at Neveh Shalom and then joined there soon after.”

Waco, also an attorney who resigned from her criminal defense practice last year to take a limited duration pro-tem judge position, takes her daughter to Congregation Neveh Shalom’s Friday mommy playgroups and Shoreshim events, and also to the Oy Baby music class at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center.

“As new Jewish parents, it’s a wonderful feeling to be part of a larger group going through the same experience of viewing the world through new eyes,” said Waco. “Marla has changed my painting style forever, I think, because I see things now through her eyes. I show her each new painting as it nears completion, and if she giggles then I know I have got it right.”

Waco’s pro-tem bench post ended last August. Since then, she has been painting for the upcoming show and looking for new attorney work, when she is not being a mom.

“I especially enjoy filling my time with reading to my daughter from the books sent to us from the PJ Library, and painting murals on the nursery walls and for my friends with little children,” she said.

Waco’s highly distinctive art is readily recognizable and shows up often in fund-raising auctions. She donates routinely to the Portland Jewish Academy auction, as well as to CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates for Children).

This year she hopes to donate pieces to a local hospital and to the Cascade AIDS Project.

“I always donate pieces upon request for fundraisers in our community, and strive to make a difference in the lives of others through my legal career and art,” said Waco.

The Attic Gallery opening on Feb. 5 is a Portland First Thursday event and will feature a reception with the artist from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Attic Gallery is located at 206 SW First Ave.

Waco’s work, including paintings from the upcoming show, can be previewed on the artist’s blog: http://juliashand.blogspot.com/.

Visit the Attic Gallery Web site at www.atticgallery.com.

Waco’s paintings will remain on exhibit through March 5.