More about Julie and Inner Finn
Making has always been a part of my life. I developed an early love of textiles from my Granny, and have an abiding memory of making my first pot when I was seven. As I grew up I followed a different path, studying engineering and turning my creativity to designing and making chemical plants for twenty years.
A gift of Julia Cameron’s ‘The Artists Way’ caused me to try new things. I discovered sculpture through short courses in stone carving and metal sculpting. The two remarkable teachers on these courses were so encouraging that I decided to go back to college to study art and design. I thought I wanted to learn to paint and draw, but found myself totally absorbed by, and looking forward to the day a week in the ceramics studio. A part time course became full time, and during my Art Foundation year my Ceramics tutor encouraged me to return to University and study Applied Arts. I am eternally grateful to him. Studying at Glyndwr University, I had the opportunity to go to Finland on Erasmus Exchange. During the five months in Finland I learned to slip cast; it was a bit of an epiphany for me. Everything came together, the technical engineering skills, the sculpture techniques, design and of course clay. I suddenly knew that this was it and I committed myself fully to my creative dreams.
I am inspired by natural forms; smooth pebbles, the silhouette of a tree, or the soft shape of mounds of snow. My time in Finland on Erasmus Exchange cemented a love of the simple, clean lines and the pure forms of Nordic Design, which I try to reflect in my work. I admire the iconic shapes of Eero Aarnio and Arne Jacobsen’s chair designs and I find Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures particularly inspiring. My first love is sculpture however food is a big part of my life. I love to cook with good ingredients and serve simple food in beautiful handmade bowls and dishes, and that’s why I make tableware and drinking vessels in addition to sculpure. To use a handmade bowl gives me a sense of connection to something bigger that myself, to a history of makers and artisans, and to the individual who crafted the item I am using.
My work explores the tension of opposites. I am particularly intrigued by the interplay between control and chance, between soft form and hard materials and between fleeting movement and stillness. I seek to capture quietness and offer a moment of stillness amongst the bustle and constant noise or modern living.
I enjoy walking the line between sculpture and function, sometimes combining the two, in a desire to create objects that want to be touched, loved, and used. I work mainly with porcelain, fired in oxidation to 1260C, I offer complimentary ranges of hollow-form sculptural pieces and functional vessels, characterized by expressive mark making and the use of monochrome colour palettes. My smoke fired range is made using white earthenware casting slip.
I enjoy the whole slip casting process, from design, cutting templates, turning plaster masters, to mould making, production of slip and slip casting. I love to get my hands involved in every step. I have two favourite parts: making gestural marks in the mould which pleases a rebellious urge to scribble on something pure, and secondly the moment a new form releases from the mould and I get to see it for the first time.
As an ex-engineer and person with a strong perfectionist streak I try to control the world around me. Impossible I know. I do what I can, I pay attention to all the details in the process. I weigh and measure and monitor, I fettle and sand and try to remove any imperfection before or after firing. And yet I recognise that we can’t control everything, indeed I seek to embrace that fact. As a child I liked board games that combined strategy and dice, so there was always that element of chance and the need to respond in the moment. As a slip caster I get the best of both of these worlds. I get to control the form in the making of plaster models and moulds to precise dimensions, and then cast repeatable forms. Bliss for my perfectionist. Of course each piece is a potential blank canvas and this is where I embrace my love of chance, I choose to decorate the surface of the mould with coloured porcelain using gestural marks rendering each piece unique, each piece an expression of the mood and the moment. A one off for you to hold, to use, to place in your house and bring joy to the fleeting moments.
Photography by Peter Corcoran www.petercorcoran.com