Julia Cost, born and raised on Maui, Hawaii, is the daughter of Hawaii artist Curtis Cost and granddaughter of the late California artist, James Peter Cost. She has a MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, and a BA in Studio Art and a BA in Dance from Scripps College.



I love watching people who are completely engrossed in reading a book, the gentleness of their head inclined forward, the rapt softness of their eyes as they soak in words. Or a person who is listening in earnest to another person, absorbing everything, nodding in comprehension. Or a person whose eyes are wide open, trying to take in all of the details of a view, desiring to experience and understand something larger than him or herself. In all of these moments, the self is sustained, but it is also unfolded to envelop something greater.

What I find most beautiful are not objects, places, people, nor the words and artwork that attempt to describe them. Rather I love that human's appreciation, fascination, and attention to things outside of themselves create these words and artworks. It is attentiveness, and its elusiveness as a choice that must be effortfully made, that I find truly beautiful.

For me, making art is about teaching myself to see and listen
to you.