BIO
Juju Ishmael (b.1960, Kansas City, MO) received a BFA in Painting from Kansas University, Lawrence, in 1983, during which time she organized and launched KU annual juried undergraduate shows. Her photography and performance-environmental art documentation were exhibited at Scissors Paper Stone Gallery in 1982.
She was a visual artist fellow resident at Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center 1986-87 and soloed at the Walker Gallery during her residency. Her work was included in the Boston Art Fair exhibition in 1987.
During a creative sabbatical in the southwest U.S, her work was shown in Jerome, Arizona 1989 - 1990. She participated in group shows in Lawrence, KS in 1991 and 1992. In 1992, she worked in set design, in conjunction with the graduate theater program at Kansas University.
1993 - 94, Ishmael was involved with Chameleon Theater through experimental performance and theater. She launched her own performance-art pieces in 1993, weaving mythology with personal history. Upon moving to Seattle in 1996, she worked in theater tech and staging with Seattle Improv Company.
After a hiatus from painting, she took classes at Gage Academy, Seattle, from 2016-17. In 2020, she took part in the CoCA member show and was included in the 2022 Seattle Design Fair with CoCA members. She has recently shown her work locally and in online exhibits. Juju Ishmael lives and works in Seattle, WA.
CV
Born 1960 (Julie Freeman) Kansas City, Missouri
Lives and works in Seattle, Washington
Education
2017 Studio Intensive, Gage Academy, Seattle, Washington
1983 BFA, Painting, Kansas University, Lawrence
Selected Exhibitions / Performance Art
2024 Aqueous, Art Fluent (online group exhibition)
2022 CoCA design project exhibit, Seattle Design Fair, Seattle, Washington (group installation)
2020 Small works show, CoCA Gallery, Seattle, Washington (group)
2017 Student Show, Gage Academy, Seattle (group)
1995 Excerpt from Queen of Swords, by Judy Grahn, Lawrence, Kansas (performance)
Spoken Word, Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas (group)
1994 Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton in Boca Raton, Chameleon Theater, Lawrence, Kansas (duet performance)
1993 Me and Anorexia, Jazzhaus, Lawrence, KS (solo performance)
Chorus to my Mother, Lawrence, Kansas (performance)
1991 Small Works Exhibit, Lawrence, Kansas (group)
1990 Small Works Show, Jerome Arizona (group)
1989 Open Studios Exhibit, Brickbottom Studios, Boston, Massachusetts (group)
1988 Boston Arts Festival, Boston, Massachusetts, (group)
1987 Walker Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts (solo)
1982 Scissors Paper Stone Gallery, Lawrence, Kansas (2 person)
Field Maze, Wakarusa Valley, Lawrence, Kansas (solo environmental project)
1981 Covered Raze, Rutland, Vermont (2-person environmental project)
Awards and Residencies
1987 Visual Fellow, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Massachusetts
1982 Lockwood Award, Kansas University, Lawrence
Collections
Private collections in United States, United Kingdom and Australia