Julie Reby Waas

Artist

Jun 6

Written By Claudia Elliott

My elaborate acrylic and watercolor drawings take shape instinctively. My process is a spiritual experience guided by my heart and intuition.
When I create, I shut out the rational side of my brain and let the subconscious and intuitive voice speak through my hand and onto the paper.
I often start with a simple idea, such as vines, hearts, and geometric forms, and let the outline take shape organically. I never know until I fill in the outline of the piece which colors or patterns I will use.
I trust my intuition and enjoy the thrill of seeing where it will take me. In many ways, it is therapeutic for me. I want my pieces to brighten my viewers’ lives, make them pause in their busy life, and bring a smile to their face.
Julie Reby Waas has been creating abstract drawings for as long as she can remember. It was only during the isolating, stressful time of the coronavirus pandemic, however, that Waas began turning her original designs into artwork.
Waas felt a desire to bring joy into her life and the lives of others through creative expression, using bright color and compelling patterns to stimulate the viewer’s spontaneous reaction to each one of her pieces.
Her geometric shapes and patterns serve as a way to bring order to her sometimes disordered life, and Waas identifies three recurring symbols in her work: vines, Venn diagrams, and jigsaw puzzle-like designs.
To her, these symbols represent friendship, connection, common ground, and fragments coming together to create a bigger picture, which all relate to Waas’s belief that everything and everyone is interrelated in some way, and when we come together in friendship and strength we create a beautiful tapestry.
In addition to creating her art, Waas also works as a labor and employment lawyer at Baptist Health South Florida. She exhibits her work in galleries in New York, London and Miami, and is influenced by other geometrically-inclined predecessors like Piet Mondrian and Joan Miró.
Most potently, Waas is inspired by her autistic son, Jonathan, who as a little boy would mix plaid shorts with bright, geometric t-shirts to create his own bold and unique style.
Waas’s style is certainly her own flavor of bold and unique, successfully achieving her goal of bringing happiness and enthusiasm to each one of her viewers.