About
Erin Wallace is the creator and director of Hope Springs Inspired Arts. She is a resident artist at Daylight Artist Collective in Westerville.
She is a member and former Publicity Chair for Community Artists of Westerville(CAW) and former vice president of the Arts Council of Westerville.
She has been displaying her artwork at Mt Carmel St Ann’s 4th Fridays, License for Art exhibit, and the annual CAW Spring show to name a few. She has also had the opportunity to share her works in shows across Columbus. From the Ekphrastic Fantastic exhibit at the Cultural Arts Center and the Femme Eclectique show at Pennington Custom Art Services in 2021 to Wild Art Columbus events by Wild Goose Creative in 2020 and 2022. This past summer she had the pleasure to be one of the artists selected in the 2023 Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition. 2023 brought opportunities to be juried into several other exhibitions: Westerball Community Gallery at the annual 2023 WesterBall event and two Daylight Artist Collective shows, “New Beginnings” and “Pathways and Portals.” Her passion for art led her to a short 3-year stint as the Art Program Manager of the James Art Gallery at the James Cancer Hospital from 2020 to 2023. This embedded in her more desire to share art with folks in the Arts and Health front. She has since become a member of the Medicine & the Arts Board for the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
She and her fellow art educators and enthusiasts have been providing personalized art instruction since 2020.
Juls Rathje is the co-director of Hope Springs Inspired Arts. She is passionate about sharing art with people of all abilities and ages in her community and internationally. She received her BA in Arts education from Ohio Dominican University and an MA in Art Education from The Ohio State University. She also participated in ARTIS: Artist Research Tours & International Studies in Florence, Italy.
She has a robust background in community and educational art programs. She has over 20 years of experience in art education. She most recently taught art in Westerville Public Schools, developing unique teaching strategies during the coronavirus pandemic. She was an adjunct professor at Ohio Dominican University and was an Arts Facilitator at The Wellington School in Columbus as well as the Baroody Camps: Teaching Art Studio Classes in Virginia. She has earned many grants to support art education through the Ohio Arts Council, Ohio Art Education Foundation, Westerville Education Foundation, the Arts Council of Westerville, and the Bette Marschall Grant.
She applies her passion for art in community events and her own professional art exhibits. She has provided instruction through opportunities with Ohio Dominican’s Village to Child: Mentor and Tutor program, Upper Arlington Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Dublin Arts Council.