Julia Galloway

Artist Statement

I am interested in pottery that is joyous; objects that weave into our daily lives through use. Pottery decorates our living spaces with character and elegance. Teapots celebrate our drinking tea; a pitcher decorates a mantel when not in use; a mug with slight texture inside the handle allows our fingers to discover uniqueness. Pottery is a reflection of us. In making cream and sugar sets I am curious about their own inherent dialogue; the set itself is reminiscent of close conversations and their ritual celebratory use.

An exhibition and gallery location is a brief but very important place for pottery. It is through the act of "show" that the public first comes to see and understand the work. Specific displays of pottery can bridge the viewer with the content in work. Displaying square tumblers on library-type shelves supports the ideas of all kinds of nourishment. Exhibiting cups at eye level decorated with the skyline of Rochester gives the viewer the sense of being inside looking outside.

I make pottery out of porcelain clay. It is extremely sensitive and responsive to the human touch when it's soft; when fired it becomes dense and strong. It is this responsive nature of clay that continues to interest me. It responds to your touch, then you respond to it. The same happens in the firing process with glaze materials and the atmosphere of the kiln. Clay is a supportive an demanding medium for the creative journey of making.

I am insistent about making things with my hands. A need for beautiful domestic objects and an instinctual drive to create things are tremendous dance partners for idea and desire. Utilitarian pottery supports and represents our intimate rituals of nourishment and celebration.

Bio

Julia Galloway is a utilitarian potter and professor. She is currently the Director of the School of Art and Professor at the University of Montana, Missoula.

Julia Galloway was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. She received her MFA at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and BFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Julia has been an Artist in Residence at the Archie Bray Foundation and at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. She was also a visiting scholar at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax.

Julia has exhibited across the US and Canada, including solo exhibitions at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Lill Street in Chicago, the Clay Arts Center in New York, and Trax Gallery in California. Julia’s work is included in the collections of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC, Long Beach Art Museum, Long Beach CA, The Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT, The Clay Art Center, Port Chester, NY, The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Julia has demonstrated at the Utilitarian Clay Conference, and NCECA and taught workshops at Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Cleveland Institute of Art and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She has served on the board of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts.

Her work has been published in Ceramics Monthly, Studio Potter, Art and Perception and Clay Times. She also is in “The Ceramic Spectrum” by Robin Hopper, “The Art of Contemporary Pottery” by Kevin Hulch, “Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artist and Objects”, and The Ceramic Continuum, Archie Bray Foundation.