Julia Ferrari

A Second Chance to Shine - The Before and After Lives of Mount Holyoke's Older Learners
Vista, Summer 1997, by Emily Harrison Weir

Julia Ferrari trained herself as an artist and printer, then returned to college for a foundation in art history and time for her own artistic growth. Ferrari is currently illustrating and printing her own book, Gifts of the Leaves, in the Golgonooza Letter Foundry she runs in New Hampshire.

True to Type

Artist Julia Ferrari, now forty-three, quit college in 1974 to start a business illustrating, hand-setting, and printing limited edition fine print books. She was so successful that three books she typeset and printed are now in the permanent collection at New York's Museum of Modern Art. But Ferrari's personal artistry took a back seat to the business until she arrived on campus.

Here, Ferrari finally had time for her own work in oils and mixed media, and she got an academic foundation in art history. Ferrari found that these courses inspired her artistically and taught her "how to identify goals and move step-by-step toward their final achievement." Her latest project is collaborating with her partner, Dan, on a hand-printed book for which she has made etchings and will design the typography and binding. "After successfully completing my work at Mount Holyoke [in December 1996], I feel that I can accomplish anything I work hard at," says Ferrari.