Julie K. Anderson is a sculptural ceramic artist and art instructor living in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  Her work is strongly influenced by the mountain environment as well as her science background in biology.  She incorporates botany, hydrology, chemistry, ecology and environmental issues into very detailed organic forms.

Anderson’s latest solo exhibition, titled Mutations, was shown at Eutectic Gallery in Portland, Oregon.  Inspire U Magazine recently featured her work in their December 2015 issue, creating this intriguing video, Nature’s Pattern.  Her work was also included in the Colorado Clay Biennial 2014 at the Foothills Arts Center in Golden, Colorado.  Anderson also had her first opportunity to show a large-scale wall piece in downtown Los Angeles, California at The Loft at Liz’s.  Other noteworthy exhibitions include the 2011 Plinth Gallery/Anderson Ranch Exhibition: A Ceramic Collaboration and NCECA’s 2009 Continental Divide at the Arvada Center.

As the daughter of a woodworker, Anderson has had a life-long interest in art, beginning with drawing and painting in her youth.  After discovering ceramics while pursuing her biology degree and art minor in college, Anderson moved to Steamboat Springs to further explore ceramic arts as an intern at Laloba Ranch Clay Center. Upon acquiring a position at nearby Ceramic Design Group, a production facility, under ceramicist and master mold-maker Jonathan Kaplan, she eventually rose to the position of production manager. She was responsible for overseeing a wide variety of building and production methods such as slip casting, ram-pressing, jiggering and mold-making.  During this time, Anderson began developing her own business as an architectural ceramicist, specializing in custom carved tile design and mold making.   Most recently she has been exploring clay plaster wall applications and mural painting while continuing her personal exploration in sculpture. She currently teaches pottery and sculpture classes out of her own studio in Steamboat Springs.

“I had plans to become a forest ecologist while working as a field technician in the summers and pursuing my biology degree during the school year.  But when I enrolled in my first ceramics class and placed my hands on a soft lump of clay at the potter’s wheel, I knew I had found my match.  It was the most challenging medium I had ever worked with and I was absolutely enthralled.”