JULIE BAUGNET earned two degrees at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, receiving her M.F.A in 1995 and a B.F.A. in 1979. She also studied at the Croydon Polytechnic--School of Art in London. Currently, she is Professor of Art at St. Cloud (Minnesota) State University, where she leads an international student program to Great Britain.

BAUGNET paints portraits of fragile, fleeing things such as wildflowers, seedpods, blossoms and moths. In her work, hazy patterns coalesce into sketches of nature's bounty and sacredness.

With an observant, playful eye, BAUGNET notes the minute details of flora and leaf. The blossoms and their companions are superimposed on soft, abstract grounds amidst subtle geometry. The rendering is generalized, accurate but colloquial—more the loving pseudo-science of an admirer, rather than the remote observation of a cold scientist. BAUGNET'S depictions have an omnivorous, fascinated quality to them.

Fresh mark-making and a casual, hand-drawn approach to pattern are recurrent and typical in BAUGNET'S work. The grounds on which her floras float also get a fresh consideration. Familiar art-historical constructs are echoed faintly in these paintings: Diebenkorn's lilting, lyrical lines and Ellsworth Kelley's shaped monochromes, for example.

Viewing her work, we revisit the minimalist grid, but find it foiled with the delicate intimacy of a familiar object. As you look closely, you find veils of paint obscuring images underneath. This tension between abstraction and depiction serves to remind us of the subjective viewpoint of the painter, alive with the vagaries of mark and gesture, filtering the world through a personal lens.

BAUGNET would like people to think out their relationship to nature, perhaps even change their attitudes and values. She believes that plants are our natural wonders that hold the mystery and knowledge of the universe.

Among numerous teaching positions and awards, JULIE BAUGNET has received the Jerome Fellowship for Book Arts and two travel grants from the Alaska State Council on the Arts.