Julia C. Tenney was born into publishing and thus graphic design. She played with T-squares as a child.

A life-long visual artist, it wasn’t until she earned her BA in Art History that she regularly encountered blank canvas syndrome. It was easier to create when it didn’t all have to mean something.

She first learned how to make Pysanky, or “Ukrainian Eggs”, from a college professor who had defected from the Soviet Union, but didn’t create her own pysanky workspace until after she moved to Somerville, in 1999.

She has been volunteering with Somerville Open Studios for decades, and became an exhibiting artist in 2020.

She has been a member of Sign of the Dove Gallery since 2022.