Julie Lonneman Studio

A sign of the times....my last regular print client is folding. I'd been a contributor for almost 25 years. Celebration was a marvelous resource and I am sorry to see it go. The editors kindly invited me to choose a few of my favorite covers and write a reflection for the final issue. 

Last fall I was invited to contribute a piece to this show which opens December 16 at the Sheen Center in New York City. Though I have created a few portraits of Dorothy Day (see my recent posts for two of them), I chose to send this scratchboard drawing instead.  The exhibit juxtaposes excerpts from Dorothy's writings with art addressing the ideals she devoted her life to such as social justice, voluntary poverty, resistance to racial prejudice, and nonviolence. The artists represented in the show include those, like myself, whose artwork has appeared in The Catholic Worker newspaper as well artists who have been homeless and imprisoned. My image of a woman kneading dough was originally created to illustrate Christ's parable of the leaven, certainly  apropos considering the strength and persistence of the legacy inspired by Dorothy's life. I also see in this image the voluntary simplicity of Dorothy, her respect for domestic work, and her service to others. The woman'...

Fortunately I checked my email last Tuesday morning. The subject line was "urgent request from a German newspaper." They wanted second rights to my illustration of Pope Francis. Their deadline was in four hours. Glad to oblige.

St. Anthony Messenger picked up my image of Dorothy Day for their August 2016 cover.

My illustration for the February 2014 Celebration cover is meant to convey the many layers of meaning in the scriptures available to homilists. Though this illustration is unabashedly digital, I started by sketching by hand. Then I cut the basic shapes out of plastic with a knife, also by hand. At that point I scanned them to my computer, added color and manipulated them in Photoshop.

Last year, Augsburg Fortress Press commissioned me to illustrate the Lutheran Study Bible. I received my copy just recently. It's beautiful! Some of my illustrations for the chapter opening pages are shown below. (All images copyright 2009 by Julie Lonneman.)

Here's a spread from the February issue of Sojourners magazine, featuring my illustration. I highly recommend the insightful article by Walter Brueggemann. (Copyright 2009 by Julie Lonneman)