House of Pancake ~ Meet Julie Sepanski . . .

JULIE: My pancakes names are Madison-9ish, Austin-6, Alex-3, Carter and Tater-2.

JULIE: There are so many reasons. When I was little my dad used to tell to me a story about a boy whose mom and dad gave him fine clothes and the boy went for a walk in the Jungle.

Along the way he met with some ferocious tigers wanting to eat him up, so he offered each of them a piece of his clothes. He soon found the tigers chasing around a tree fighting over who was the grandest tiger in the jungle. They ran so fast that they turned into butter. The little boy’s dad came by, just happened to have an urn and put all the tiger butter into it. That night they all ate pancakes with tiger butter for supper, mom had 64, dad had 98, and the boy ate 134!

I like to tell that story to the boys and when ever their dad is out of town we eat pancakes for supper. Then, recently my mother-in-law told me a story about a family friend’s son who couldn’t say their last name, so he pronounced it pancake. Plus having a son named Tate. The boy’s love that we call ourselves the pancakes, we like to think of it as our team name.

JULIE: Ahh, the theme for my show. Well, the theme is black birds and femininity/motherhood. When my grandmother died she said that she would come back as a robin and visit us. So, a bird, to me, in so many ways symbolizes motherhood. I chose to use black because of this guilt that naturally goes along with motherhood. So many good mothers are overwhelmed by it and don’t talk about it for fear of vulnerability or admitting of failure or defeat. I am proud to say I feel guilty, but it is what makes me strive for better every day.

JULIE: Was I a bird in a former life? Hmmm, hadn’t thought about it. Never dabbled in past life regression.

JULIE: As early as I can remember I have always loved aesthetics. I have always yearned to express myself in some form or another. When I was little I believed I was going to be a fashion designer. I had many, many designs drawn and as a child I it was my dream to go to Parson’s in New York, become famous and make lots of money, so I could help the homeless.

My form of expression changed later in life with music. I played piano for 11 years, and picked up the viola at 12. I was determined to become a Music Major until my junior year of high school. I spent that year really getting to know myself. I’d lock myself in my room and dabble with my mom’s paints. That is when the epiphany happened; I would go back to my “roots.” My senior year I took my first art class with Debbie Frank…probably the person who inspired me the most out of anyone. She’d let me come to her class at lunch and work with me on getting together a portfolio for MIAD. When MIAD seemed out of the question financially, she helped me get my scholarship at Parkside.

JULIE: I started putting things in the oven when I was frantically making my bizaar-o dolls. I soaked them in coffee and rather than waiting for them to dry I’d bake them. I loved the effect. I now apply it to some of my art work. I usually do it when I work on raw fabric canvas.

JULIE: You know I don’t have a “style.” I cannot mass produce in any sense. I prefer to take my artwork in the direction my vision leads it. If I am asked to maintain a specific style or reproduce I get flustered and usually paint over what I have created. Not because I can’t reproduce, but it goes against me, just doesn’t feel right.

JULIE: I have lived in Kenosha most of my life except for a few acceptations. I was born in La Crosse. I made an attempt to get out of Kenosha when I was about twenty-something. Long story, but left for Texas with the intentions of staying, but ended up back here. Kenosha just draws you back.

JULIE: Though my mom would never admit to it, is very artistic. My father is as well, he builds wood creations. I have an aunt on my father’s side who is a fantastic landscape artist. Now, as far as the next generation, my son Madison is an exceptional artist. He has a simple grasp of perspective that he has had since five. He makes me wild with the things he can draw that, to me, seems beyond his years!

JULIE: I really have always loved the arts, but now find that painting or creating of any sort is therapy to me. It sounds very cliché, but art is like breathing for me. If I don’t have something to paint on, I wither in my everyday tasks.