Juli Juneau
Juli Juneau first made New Orleans her home in 1989. In 1995 she created Nomad Collection, which began as an import business featuring Balinese Sarongs, Tuareg jewelry sourced from her travels in Mali, and her own travel photography. She has traveled extensively throughout the world including a 21⁄2 year solo adventure from Dakar, Senegal to Cape Town, South Africa. This inspiring journey through 23 African countries by land (boat, barge, train, even donkey cart – any means possible!) made the African continent and her people, music, culture, wildlife, and geography especially dear to Juli’s heart. Her glass art has a luster reflecting her spirit of curiosity and compassion.
“The organic creation of glass is part of its mystique and power: a lightning storm, a bolt ignites and a piece of glass appears -much like a genie rising from the desert sands of Africa. This magic is the lure and the passion of glass for me.”
“Blown glass is extremely seductive and attracts the feminine side of us all, yet creating these lush and sensual forms is powerful and intense. When I handle a large mass of molten liquid-glass at the end of my 5-foot blowpipe and face the blasting heat of 2300 degree furnaces, I find it a macho, masculine, sometimes Herculean task requiring every drop of physical strength and stamina I can muster. Yet, at times, my touch must be as delicate as brushing a hair from my face.”
In 2003, Juli spent 1 year volunteering with The International AIDS Trust in southern Africa. Once home, she was instrumental in “bringing a piece of Africa” to Louisiana, opening and operating the non-profit Juneau Safari Resort for disadvantaged children. There, Juli has bottle-raised and tamed baby zebra and many kangaroos surrounded by giraffe and camels and a variety of other “wild animals” she tamed.
After years of admiring blown glass, Juli began to create her own glass art in 1999. Her work is displayed in a multitude of US and international collections including those of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey Headquarters Permanent Collection, Lou Gossett, Hoda Kotb, Dave Chappelle, Russell Simmons, Dustin Hoffman, Cokie Roberts, LSU Football Coach Les & Cathy Miles, Tom Benson of the New Orleans Saints, Goldring family, Anheuser Busch Private Collection, and the Ritz-Carton New Orleans and Citizens Bank permanent collections. Juli has been commissioned by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities to design and create their annual “Bright Lights” awards since 2015. She has also been commissioned to create the national biannual “Heroes in Recovery” awards since 2013. She also creates the annual awards for the American Red Cross Power of Women and Eden House. Her permanent installations for Avanti Senior Living Communities may be currently seen at Towne Lake in Houston, TX, Vision Park in Shenandoah, TX, Flower Mound in Dallas, TX, Avanti at Covington, LA, and upcoming Augusta Pines, Houston, TX and Avanti at Lafayette, LA.