Julie, the artist behind Wren Pottery founded her studio while living on an island in the coastal rain forest of Southeast Alaska. Throughout her years there, she became deeply inspired by the raw wilderness. The lush forests and the wild sea beckoned her to look closer at the small wonders of nature found among the grand landscape. It was in that intimate space where she drew upon the link between the natural world and her work as a potter.
Julie's work embodies a reverence to the simple and wild beauty of the world around us. She creates functional pottery that invites in the woodsy charm and simple rounded lines of pure form and earthy color.
She began throwing pottery at the age of 16, and has developed her identity as a functional potter, landscape painter, photographer, and small business owner.
She and her family have since moved back to their roots in Duluth, Minnesota where Julie continues to throw pottery everyday and enjoys exploring the northern woodlands and waterways.
Her work as a landscape painter is strongly influenced by the American Tonalist painters of the late 19th century. Similar to these artists, Julie seeks to represent nature as poetry through capturing the mood and atmosphere of a place. Her aim is not necessarily to depict what a landscape is, but what it represents. With expressive brushstrokes and veils of color, Julie attempts to conjure up the visual place, as well as the ether that embraces it, and the weather that pushes through it. At the heart of Julie’s work is Nature, and her effort to represent its inner life with eager observation and reverence to its mystery and long-standing wisdom.
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