Julia Parrino & Isabella Fluker

MEDIUM /// CERAMIC, PRINTMAKING, CROCHET SCULPTURE

Julia Parrino and Isabella Fluker are longtime friends that hail from Tampa, Florida. Their show "Buds in Bloom" welcomes spring with bright colors, expressive designs, and playful whimsy. 

Isabella studied animal welfare and behavior at NYU, and graduated in 2021. She started crocheting during the pandemic as a way to keep her hands busy, and found her passion in making these little dolls she calls Babas. Babas have an anxiety reducing effect and multi-sensory qualities, and are made with the intention of assisting children and adults with controlling their anxiety. 

As an artist who battles anxiety herself, she notes on the ways they have helped her: 

"I find that they assist a lot when I am having difficulty in my day to day life. The best way to find peace with your baba would be to either count the amount of rows on their body when anxious or trace your finger in a swirl pattern around their body, following each row."

Julia studied Graphic Arts and Design at University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and has been working locally on public art and murals since graduating in 2023. Julia's bright and intricate work centers nature, humor, and nostalgia. She works in a variety of mediums, but channels most of her designs through ceramics and printmaking. She gathers inspiration from the landscape of South Florida where she grew up and beautiful visions of her grandmother's Spanish style home, where bright colors and complex patterns decorate everyday life.