EDUCATION
While in NYC, Julie fell in love with ceramics. She first attended classes at Clayworks on Columbia where she learned all the basics in wheel throwing and handbuilding with Sabina Magnus. After Covid, she switched to BKLYN Clay in Prospect Heights and continued her education there. She specifically studied wheel throwing and advances glaze techniques with Cami Climaco, and surface decoration with Michelle lm (Ratxchicks). She went there as often as possible during open studio time and started working independently in 2022.
While in Calvi (Corsica) where she goes as often as possible, Julie met Cathy Astolfi, a Corsican artist who uses wild clay and materials to create beautiful pieces inspired by the sea and the local landscape. Cathy taught Julie how to incorporate collected elements in her work, to create authentic, unique and vibrant pieces.
Continuing on this path, in the summer of 2024 Julie attended a workshop lead by Simon Manoha in Ardeche, France. Simon is an artist who uses collected clay and crushes local rocks to create wild and unique pieces. He taught Julie how to recognize and use proper hi-fire clay, and how to combine crushed stones together to obtain an attractive and durable glaze.
In Rome, Julie works from Officine Ceramiche, a coworking spaced based in Testaccio. The space is dedicated to committed ceramists and was founded by Roman artist Evandro Gabrieli.
INSPIRATION
As a baker before and as a ceramist now, Julie uses flowers, rocks, sand and nature in general as her principal source of inspiration. She mainly uses natural french stoneware clay from Burgundy (France) and black volcanic stoneware. She collects roman and corsican clay, stones, sand and ashes and uses them to create glazes or washes and add character and autenticity to her work.
Her pieces are sometimes very raw and sometimes more figurative, but always poetic and paradoxically delicate.
