Multidisciplinary artist David R. Julienne was born in Oakland, California, on January 16, 1949. While attending Hayward High School he studied photography under Herb Brodahl, and after graduation in 1967 he began taking studio art lessons at Chabot College, earning his A.A. in 1971. He then attended the San Francisco Art Institute where he focused on printmaking, studying under Robert Fried for whom he would later become a studio assistant. In 1975 he completed his B.F.A. at Cal State Sonoma (now Sonoma State University) in Rohnert Park, California, studying under printmaker Shane Weir and painter and photographer Bill Morehouse. He would also study with environmental sculptor Phyllis "Wopo" Holup. 

In 1976, Julienne found work as a rigger for Christo and Jean-Claude's "Running Fence" installation in Sonoma County, an experience he says "profoundly changed view of art. The monumental scope and scale of the project made me question my own work." Though he had been accepted into the M.F.A. program at Mills College in Oakland in 1977, he dropped out after one semester and pursued a professional career in the textile design and garment industry, eventually partnering with fashion designer Lisa Arden in a manufacturing business and continuing to create his own art work in the meantime. 

David Julienne continues to live and work in San Francisco and Baja. His exhibitions include: National Print Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974; Pro Arts Oakland, group show, 2002; Live Worms Gallery, San Francisco, 2003 (retrospective).