Julia Chirka is a ceramics artist and educator. She initiated her practice at the Shadbolt Centre in 2008 and she has been largely autodidactic in her creative process since. She has exhibited at several events and auctions including Franklin Studios’s Pop Up series as well as The Western Front’s Toque Fundraiser.
She is the co-founder of Summer Skool, a ceramics studio, which has hosted multiple yearly workshops for students in Vancouver since 2015. She has worked alongside Summer Skool co-founders Maggie Boyd and Glenn Lewis to create a community hub that facilitates a supportive work space for students.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a person who loves creating objects and ideas and exploring life. I mostly work with clay, but also like to draw and paint. Sometimes those worlds collide, where I use my work as vessels to illustrate on. I am enamoured with colours and shapes, in pots and in the world. As an introvert, I spend a lot of time observing people and as a reaction I love drawing expressive faces, abstract and real. Usually when I start a project it leads to an unplanned outcome, unpredictable and unknown conclusions. I really admire that about the ceramics process.
