Artist Statement

My first reaction would be to say that I want to express myself and make something meaningful that will be interesting for people to look at. I am sure it is true on the surface. I don’t have the typical life-long story that I knew I was an artist since I was a kid or I had that burning desire to create a masterpiece.

I became an artist gradually, like a person who went through numerous rooms and finally opened the right door. I make art because I can’t not make it. I have so many ideas that need to be completed and finalized as tangible objects.

Why do I make art?

It’s my life, the everyday necessity of existence.
I create my own world that I can immerse myself in and disappear.

All my work is an attempt to deal with psychological issues and explore emotions and feelings in depth. I am interested in examining the entity of the form during the process of transitioning from one realm to the other, from one stage of development to the next one. I use an abstract figurative shape to suggest the ambiguity of the process, signify the importance of the change and difficulty of the transitioning.

In my creative process I explore the relationship between sculptural form and the surface treatment and integrate the idea of interchangeability between a flat image and the three-dimensionality of sculpture. My sculptures convey the inner-world of a person – a world remembered or imagined from the past; a world of a dream, or a nightmare; a world of unfulfilled expectations.

Short Biography

Julia Feld, a York, South Carolina artist, was born and raised in Russia where she studied chemistry and developmental psychology. After moving to the USA, she resumed her education; studied design, drawing, painting and discovered that clay was the medium that she was searching for to implement her ideas about the three-dimensional world.

She has developed a highly personal style that incorporates narrative painting and ceramic sculpture in one work of art. She paints on clay with underglazes and creates an illusion of interchangeable reality. In her work she explores psychological and emotional issues of a deep personal nature.

For the past 12 years she has been an active member of the international ceramic community. She is a member of the International Ceramic Artists Association (ICAA), China and ICA – International Academy of Ceramics, Switzerland.

Her work has been shown all over the US and internationally (Italy, China, Romania, Latvia, Turkey, France, Serbia, Finland) at different galleries and museums.

She has received numerous prizes and awards, among them:

2023 National Endowment of the Arts distinguished fellowship at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences
2022 Jurors Choice Award, Clay National XVI: Say It With Clay, Carbondale, CO
2019 Bronz Medal, International Teapot Exhibition, Yixing, China
2018 Grand Prize for Texas International Teapot Tournament, Clay Arts Museum, Huston;
2017 NICHE Award in the category “Ceramic Sculpture”;
2017 Honorable Mention at 3rd Cluj Ceramic Biennale, Romania;