About Julianne Kravetz
Developer of the Photofabrique technique
Julianne Bateman Kravetz was born and raised in Mesa Arizona. She was fascinated at an early age with the sewing machine and would often watch at her mothers’ side as play clothes and Sunday dresses were sewn. Julianne took sewing classes throughout Junior High and High school, and began to sew for her own growing family. When all of her five children were in school, she began to work at a family-owned quilt shop, where she was exposed to fine cotton fabrics, fine quilts, and the artists who made them. The fabric portraits she saw in books by Charlotte Warr Anderson and Deidre Scherer especially fascinated her. She read their books cover to cover, but became quite discouraged when she realized that she disliked the hand appliqué methods of Ms. Anderson and lacked the artistic hand of Ms. Scherer. Her mother’s birthday was soon approaching, so she decided to construct a fabric portrait of a favorite childhood picture as a gift for her. That first attempt created quite an abstract portrait, but her mother encouraged her and over the course of several years, Julianne has developed her own style and technique.
Julianne has taught classes and workshops in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Montana and Arizona, and has continued to expand her business by creating custom portrait patterns for others. She has also been commissioned by numerous people to customize fabric portraits, some of which can be seen in the gallery.
Julianne currently lives with her husband in Lexington, Kentucky, where she continues to work part time at Quilter’s Square as a Bernina educator and class instructor.