Julie is a ceramic artist residing in Groveport, Ohio. She has been developing story based figurative ceramic works for over 40 years.
The objects I make help me remember a specific moment in time. While the works were created from drawings, by the time I have finished the object, other concerns have washed over the work and sashayed the finished piece away from my original idea. The emotional link that ties most of these works to one another is a consuming frustration about war, concerns about parenting, patriotism, and the politics of engagement in conflicts. Add to this, the darker fear that things like human trafficking, and corporate greed are part of the fabric of this civilized society and my little boat feels very small and not so safe.
My mother used to say that “men are rivers and women are wells”. This may refer to the ways in which memory is effected by who we are, and which details of an experience we choose to keep. My work is about what I choose to keep.
As we navigate through the uncertainties of politics and changing laws about the environment, gender rights, civil rights, I am concerned with how well we all float and who slips under the water line.