Julie Anderson Ceramics

BIO

Julie Anderson was born and raised in Lake Zurich, Illinois, a growing suburb northwest of Chicago. As the daughter of a woodworker and architectural draftsman, she was exposed to the world of fine art and craft at a young age. While helping her father at occasional weekend art shows, Anderson became familiar with the business of art.

In 1996, Julie Anderson began studying biology at Northland College, a small environmental liberal arts college in northern Wisconsin. While focusing on field research in botany and ecology, she also pursued a minor in art. It was this portion of her degree that required a basic ceramics class. While her first semester of ceramics focused mainly on hand-building, Anderson would take advantage of practicing on the wheel at any possible chance. Often working in the studio late at night, it became obvious that she was very passionate about ceramics.

After graduating with honors with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in biology, Julie Anderson decided to follow her heart’s path to study ceramics on a more intense level. She moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to become an intern at a small ceramic arts ranch. While her move to Colorado was only supposed to be temporary, she quickly found that her new environment suited her well. Anderson began waiting tables, teaching at Colorado Mountain College, and managing a ceramics production facility in town in order to have access to a studio while trying to make ends meet in a ski town.

In the summer of 2004, Anderson and her partner, Gregory Grasso, purchased a modest warehouse unit in Steamboat Springs. With the help of friends and family, they spent nearly eight months building an upstairs loft apartment and a ground-floor studio space. Currently, Julie Anderson and Greg Grasso live and work out of their warehouse, which they now call Warehome Studios.

Within the past couple years Julie Anderson’s ceramics work has become primarily commission-based architectural installations. While bas-relief carving is the foundation of her style, her ceramic sculptures have evolved into geometric hand-built forms juxtaposed with the flowing carved lines of nature-inspired subjects such as plants and moving water. Most recently, Anderson has been collaborating in the studio with Gregory Grasso by combining the use of carved ceramic molds with kiln-formed and cast glass.