Julie Smith has a B.A. in Art with a concentration in ceramics and textiles and a minor in Anthropology from Georgia Southern College and an M.A. in Anthropology, specializing in Historical Archaeology, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  While at Georgia Southern and in graduate school, she illustrated for geologists, historians, and archaeologists and studied exhibit design and construction.  She spent much of her career as an archaeologist, cartographer, illustrator, researcher, curator, and exhibit designer; her maps and illustrations are published in numerous books and journals.    Her husband’s interest in birds, however, is what led her to create bird houses and feeders from various materials, prompting her to rekindle her passion for ceramics.  Her current work blends utilitarian forms like those used in early America with the intricacy included in her illustrations with whimsy and details using birds, artifacts, and natural elements.

I enjoy creating utilitarian forms but I also am intrigued with taking them a bit further with interesting surface treatments.  I also enjoy the technical aspects of ceramics and pottery. I like nothing better than a jar with a well fitted lid.  Whimsical items like jars in the shape of owls, bowls that look like baskets, forms with landscapes glazed around the perimeter, and other items that take the utilitarian form one step further.  I find that challenging myself improves my craft so I might spend a week making really big items and then see how small I can throw making doll sized ware.

105 W. Adair Street, Valdosta, GA

The studio is open on select days and by appointment.