Featured artist: Julia Hagen

Skyway Dog House, 11x14, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

After a brief detour into pre-med, Julia Hagen found her way back to art, and back to Chicago. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she spent years exploring different subjects before discovering her true muse: the city’s beloved hot dog stands. Her series Every Last Stand captures these everyday icons with warmth and hometown pride on Ampersand Gessobord.

The Clark Street Dog, 11x14, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: What Chicago location or building is on your painting bucket list? And what’s one place outside the city you dream of capturing someday?

I have so many! It’s hard to choose just one, but within my latest series, Every Last Stand, where I’m chipping away at capturing as many Chicago hot dog stands as I can, I’m especially looking forward to painting Lu Lu’s Hot Dogs. Outside of hot dog stands, I often pass by Diversey River Bowl—it has amazing signage and a city view in the background, and I think it would make for an excellent painting. Chicago has a lot of unique bowling alleys, and I want to turn that into a series at some point.

Vienna Beef, 11x14, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: Can you share how your collaboration with Vienna Beef started, and what it was like blending your artistic style with such an iconic Chicago brand?

When this series started getting attention online, followers would tag Vienna Beef in my posts. At the same time, friends and family—some with even loose connections to the family who started the brand—would reach out and mention my work. I think they eventually got tired of hearing my name so much, and we just had to collab!

For our collaboration, I painted the iconic Vienna Beef Factory Store, and prints are now available through their website. Having Vienna Beef recognize my work really made me feel like I was on the right track in portraying such a big piece of Chicago’s culture.

Norton's, 12x12, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: What inspires your choice when deciding which hot dog stand to paint next?

I listen to my followers! I have a list and do my best to tally how many times I hear a stand’s name mentioned. Even if a stand isn’t what others might consider “painting-worthy,” I welcome that as an interesting challenge. It isn’t all about the aesthetic—it’s about the memories and people that make a place stand out to me. I truly think that comes through when I’m painting.

Susie's Beef, 11x14, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: Your paintings often capture evening scenes rather than daylight. What attracts you to these twilight moments?

There’s something magical that happens in the moments after the sun has set, but it’s not quite night. To me, it feels like the backdrop to a nostalgic dreamscape. It’s transitory and fleeting, but high impact.

In my experience, hot dog stands have a similar effect—it’s a quick bite, high pleasure, and then you move on. But if it’s a good stand, or you’re with the right people under the right circumstances, what would normally be fleeting and unimportant becomes a glimmering, delicious, and nostalgic moment that sticks with you.

Pairing this time of day with a place that means so much to so many people—it just feels right to me.

Snappy Bog, 12x12, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: Do you prefer painting from life or photographs? When working from photos, what changes or interpretations do you bring to the image?

I prefer working from photographs and memory—it gives me a nice distance from the subject matter, which I believe helps my style come across as nostalgic. As mentioned, my favorite time of day is very fleeting, and painting from life would be nearly impossible.

I use multiple images and combine elements from different photos to create the composition that feels most true to my experience.

Johnnie's Beef, 11x14, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: Your paintings are rich with intricate details. How do you decide which elements to include, and how do they contribute to the story you’re telling?

When it comes to what details to include, I go largely off feeling. If it’s a flash of red from a Pepsi sign that catches my eye, or a cup of Italian ice tragically spilled on the sidewalk, I’ll include it—because I noticed it. I figure I can’t be the only one remembering these little details of a place.

Sometimes I’ll spend a ton of time on the cracks in the sidewalk and wonder, “Is anyone else going to appreciate this seemingly unimportant part of the scene?” But to my surprise, I’ll get comments about how special it is that I noticed the imperfections and chose to elevate them.

I believe beauty can be found wherever you choose to focus your attention—and the quirks tell the very human side of the story.

Gene & Jude's, 11x14, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: What role does having an identifiable style play in your art, and how do you balance staying recognizable with exploring new ideas?

It’s funny because I didn’t set out to create an identifiable style per se. I just kept leaning into what felt like my strengths as a painter, and that process guided me toward my subject matter.

I find it very freeing to have a personal style because it gives me a familiar baseline when approaching something new. I’ll see the thread that ties back to my other work, even if it’s unintentional—like handwriting.

If anything, imagining new ideas through my style keeps me endlessly inspired and always coming up with new possibilities.

Odge's, 12x16, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: How did you discover Ampersand, and what makes Gessobord your go-to surface?

As I leaned into my personal style, I found myself drawn to smoother surfaces to capture greater detail and avoid interrupting my line work with textured canvas. This led me to painting on wood panel. For years, I practiced techniques to gesso panels as smoothly as possible—usually involving tons of time applying thin layers of gesso, waiting for them to dry, then sanding between layers. I would set aside days every month for this process.

Then one day at Blick, I noticed Ampersand had pre-primed panels called Gessobord. To be honest, I was skeptical—historically, I wasn’t a fan of pre-primed canvases. But as soon as I tried Gessobord, I was sold. The surface was smoother than I could ever achieve on my own but still had enough absorbency to hold the pigment. Plus, suddenly I had days back to paint rather than prime!

Mustard's Last Stand, 12x12, acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord

Q: Last but not least—the question everyone’s wondering: Do you always grab a hot dog when you visit a stand, and what’s your favorite topping combo?

Absolutely! It’s a very important part of the research and informs the painting process. I’m partial to the Depression-style dog, which comes complete with a bun, hot dog, mustard, relish, onions, sport peppers, and extra salty fries rolled up with the dog. It hits the spot every time!

Artist Bio:

It all started when I was drawn to art from an early age, but when it came time to decide on a college major, I thought there was no way being an artist was a viable career path. So, I enrolled in the pre-med program at Boston College, but after just one semester, I knew I’d made a mistake.

Taking a leave of absence, I returned home to Chicago to tour a few art schools. After just one tour at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I was sold, and the rest was history… Well, not quite.

I struggled for a while, even in art school, to accept that I wanted to become a painter. At the time, I didn’t have many examples of living painters that had thriving careers. So, I took classes in almost every other department, before finally settling back into my fate as a painter.

After graduating with a BFA in 2017 from SAIC, I felt lost and like I had wasted my college years by not focusing solely on painting. It took a few years out of school and experimenting on my own before my style began to form. During that time, I explored subjects such as florals, landscapes, and eventually, cityscapes.

Cityscapes were where I had my “ah ha!” moment. Something clicked, and I felt like I had inspiration all around me. And before I knew it, I found inspiration in the humble hot dog stand, which led me to my current series, “Every Last Stand.” A series where I am on a mission to capture as many Chicago Hot Dog Stands as I can through my perspective as an artist.

I feel like this path to the hot dog stand series makes so much sense now. I had been searching everywhere for what to become as a person, and as an artist, but it was right under my nose the whole time. I’m just a Chicago girl who needed to come home and dive into her love of this city to find it. To see more of Julia's work, visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.