Julie Barrett Cataldo: Dress for Success
Shop 3D Portraits and self-care accessories @ jbcataldo.com
Julie Barrett Cataldo lives in the artsy little town of Bell Buckle, TN. As the Bell Buckle Arts Council president, she is extremely involved in fostering the arts there and in surrounding communities.
As an artist herself, she enjoys painting and sculpting 3D portraits that tell stories, some true and some embellished.
Katy: Where are you and what’s it like when it comes to culture and the vibe?
Julie Barrett Cataldo: It's super artsy here. I was born and raised in Bedford County and moved to Nashville for four years. I got tired of carting my children's bicycles to the park. I wanted to move back to Bedford County because that's where we have lots of family. But I only wanted to live in downtown Bell Buckle because there's a coffee shop here and all the little stores and artists. You could throw a rock and hit an artist or writer. The former poet laureate of Tennessee, Maggi Vaughn lives here.
Katy: Tell me about your background and how you got started in the arts.
I first knew I was an artist when I was four years old in Sunday school.
There was an easel with a big paper on it, which probably nowadays is not that big to me. But there was watercolor paints and stuff and I put the paint on the paper and I thought, This is what I do.
And I just knew, it was really amazing. It was an epiphany. So I, of course, have painted since then.
Katy: How old are your kids? Are they artsy?
JBC: I have an 11 year old, 15 year old, an almost 17 year old and a 24 year old. I've homeschooled them the whole time. It really slows down a career. My two boys in the middle are very creative and clever and can work with their hands really well, but they're more like history buffs. They have this whole collection of vintage-sourced proper uniforms from different wars, every piece is authentic from the time period.
My oldest daughter Mia always says that I'm asymmetrical and she's symmetrical.
She draws and does pointillism, like tiny tiny tiny dots and little bitty cross hatchings and they're very realistic, very beautiful.
I have no patience for drawing. I would rather put a big old brushstroke out there. I think I want it done quicker.
Amora, the young one, she's into all kinds of art stuff. Whatever supply she wants, I give it to her. Bracelets? Okay! You want to paint, okay! Make a mess. I do!
Katy: How did you get started in business and upcycling?
JBC: For many years, I was in a partnership called the Professional Bohemians. And we made dolls and interesting creatures. We started making dolls because we had little kids. (And built-in product testers!) I was the doll fashion designer. Economically it made sense to reuse stuff, reuse fabric for the clothes and such. And then I just grew to love it.
It became a mission for me to reduce the textile waste in our environment. Almost 90 pounds of textile waste goes to landfills per person every year in America.
That's crazy to me. How many people are in America? A lot. I adore fabric so much. I hate the thought of it languishing.
After we worked together for about 15 years, I decided I wanted to spend more time painting. I started painting these people that look like dolls, and I started sewing clothes for the paintings and sewing them on. That led to actual portraits that I made clothes for. Now, I've morphed into photographs that I have printed on to eco canvas and make the clothing and sew it on.
I would love to do more commissioned work with the photographs.
I've done several pieces, but I would love to do more. I've done a portrait of my friend and I’ve done a grandparents’ wedding, original wedding portraits that I print on the Eco canvas and dress the bride.
Katy: Tell me a little bit about your process when it comes to making the paintings. Where do you get the ideas for the clothing and all that?
JBC: I usually let the image kind of guide me. I'll paint an abstract background first. Then, I will carefully cut out the person. Sometimes I'll put a wash of something on the actual portrait and sometimes I just leave them because they're pretty to me that way. Then, I sew the person on and I lay the fabric up there. Sometimes I'll just lay a big piece of fabric and sculpt it until it drapes right.
I love making the drape so that it looks natural like, there are shoulders here, there are boobs here, you know?
Then I pin pin pin pin pin pin pin. I hand sew it on there. I try really hard so that you don't see the little stitch marks. I want it to look authentic, like it is a garment that this person is wearing. It takes a while.
Katy: Where do you get the portraits?
Bell Buckle’s known for having antique stores.
There's a really high class one there, so I just went down to Billy Phillip’s shop and I pawed through all the photographs and found intriguing people.
Katy: Where do you source your textiles?
JBC: I get a lot of my fabric at Turnip Green Creative Reuse in Nashville. I used to do workshops there. Weirdly enough, I got awarded a spot in this program by the Nashville Arts and Business Council and the Metro Arts Commission. It was an eight week course where we did all kinds of business-y things. And then you get a mentor for six months. My mentor ended up being the founder of Turnip Green Creative Reuse, so we were already acquainted and our missions align wonderfully.
Katy: When did you start making the other kind of self-care products?
JBC: It was a bit after I started dressing paintings. I wanted another way to use the fabric. And I was a 90s hippie kid kind of person. So I've always been into herbs and essential oils and things like that. So it made sense to make some little pillows and stuff some herbs in there. And tell people about the properties.
I want to encourage people to love themselves.
I want to encourage them to make their homes beautiful. Self-care is a trendy thing right now, but I think we all need it, you know?
So I just want to give people beautiful ways to do that for themselves or for their mom or for their brother or whatever. I want to spread the love.
