Sarah England's Author/Creator and Illustrator

The Author and Creator

Treva Jo Kampe

The Illustrator

Julie  Rodriguez Jones

Julie Rodriguez Jones grew up in the 1950s in old Richmond, California after WWII when shipyard workers dotted the area.  She used to play under their avocado tree in her front (!) yard and had many adventures with her dolls and tea sets, having picnics and going "camping" with them. 

Julie always had an interest in art but it was secondary to college, raising a family and her career at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she specialized in writing the institution's collaborative research and development contracts and was responsible for the Laboratory's contracting with the former Soviet states for the Initiative for Proliferation Prevention.   It was her son's vivid imagination that spurred her on to develop her own artistic talents when she was in her 40s.  Julie went on to study art with Gwyneth Welch, Arngunner Yr and Lien Truong at the Berkeley School of the Arts. 

Julie left Berkeley Lab after a 33 year career in 2003.  She started Art from the Soul in 2000.

Julie specializes in a variety of art including liturgical art creating both large format banners and fabric ministerial stoles, astronomical art, flowers and a host of graphic services.  Julie's art can be seen in churches both nation wide and in English speaking countries around the globe. Her art has been on book covers, greeting cards, in magazines, in books and in corporate art in the US.  Julie has received numerous awards and honors for her art. 

You can see her award winning work at

www.ArtFromTheSoul.com.  Julie now lives in Sparks, Nevada with her family and is grateful for days filled with creativity.

Business and Creative Background

I was born and raised in a small town surrounded by fields and farms and so many places to wander and explore.  It was heaven to a child, an idyllic environment to just use my imagination and play to my heart’s content.

My creative life really began during the early 1940s when there were very few toys in stores and we had to make up our own playthings.  My grandmother taught me how to make a dollhouse out of an orange crate and beds for my dolls out of Quaker Oat boxes and to sew on a little Singer hand operated sewing machine.   So, I sewed everything and anything that my dollies and kitten needed....and boy did they need a lot.  My childhood was so rich with learning to do things and make things for myself.

During college I chose a major that would help me further develop skills in design and textiles.  At that time my children were very small and in my spare time I knitted their sweaters, sewed little rompers and dresses (which my daughter even at three refused to wear). The designing of products began at this time period and for twenty years I had a company designing and selling for stores through the country.

My years of teaching seminars at the Fashion Institute of Technology, helping people learn how to design products and start companies was very rewarding.  I used my summer free time to teach in India and work with nonprofit organizations helping village woman learn how to make more marketable handmade products.  This is one of my true loves, reaching out to women so that they can be self supporting.

Sharing the world of Sarah England has been a long desired dream and now that I have time to relate her life and adventures I feel fulfilled.

I do hope that you, your daughters and granddaughters love her too.

Educational Background

Following a career in design of apparel and home fashions, I began teaching in 1987 at The Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York.  During my twenty years in education she I not only developed and taught course curriculum, but also taught seminars both domestically and internationally.  I worked within the nonprofit sector in educational settings both in the U.S. and India sharing my unique methods of approaches to skill acquisition.   My love of education brought me into the realm of working with college student having learning disabilities.  It was while counseling and directing these students towards fulfilling careers that I found my true love, discovering the seed for learning and subsequent success for each of my students.

Now studying for an advanced degree in Special Education at the University of Nevada Reno, I am directing my attention to how young people learn, what advances their acquisition of learning new materials and how the creative process can expand their potential.

Sarah England's World is my endeavor to share new venues in learning for children ages six through ten.  I believe that with all the new research and advancement in neuroscience, what we are discovering about learning is only in its infancy.