We’re looking forward to introducing you to Julie Hinson. Check out our conversation below.
Julie, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Working for myself often means working 12-14 hour days in the studio and teaching classes, with large projects and upcoming market deadlines I have very little free social time. In typical fashion though, what has been bringing me the most joy outside of my work has been my garden, which is truly just more work and tasks to do. If nothing else, I am a maker, and making the garden and preserving the food I’ve grown brings me so much joy. There is nothing quite like a morning cup of coffee while walking in the garden, picking a handful of tomatoes for breakfast or slicing up a fresh melon. My garden this year is huge, I’ve gotten 25 pints of sauce canned, 10 of salsa, hot sauces, frozen squash, more pickles than I could ever eat, literal miles of beans all just waiting to be eaten in the colder months. There is something romantic about growing food and then cooking it in something you also made. I call it my victory garden, my little F you to the government, a small piece of resistance.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I was born here in Durham and growing up here in the 90’s and early 2000’s really influenced my approach to making art and living as a working artist in Durham. I remember as a teenager going to the early Durham Art Guild events and exploring the diy art spaces that were flourishing in Durham at that point. I am a child of the Scrap Exchange, always making art out of nothing, creating from the leftovers and forgotten items of industrial growth. Today I am still doing that, finding glass in construction sites, using the architecture of Durham to influence patterns and design, still buying materials from the Scrap. Making clay work I believe can truly be about using what is around you. I drive around with a bucket and shovel in my car to dig up and test clay I see while driving. While being mostly functional my work is about where we come from, it is about North Carolina in the truest way, made from the earth of our state and for the people that live here. Currently I’m working on a series of larger sculptural pots that are made from the shapes of windows all over downtown Durham.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
When I was ten my dad finished the book he has spent the majority of my life up to that point writing, it was something that I clearly remember from younger years, him locked in his office writing this book, it has seemed to take up his whole life. That year was the new millennium, Y2K and all the global anxiety and fear that came with it. For me, at ten, I was mostly untouched by feeling that for myself but I felt it all around, it was palpable in the air, even if my family and friends mostly took it as a joke, it was a constant topic of conversation that year, what would happen when the computers and systems of the world changed to 2000. On that night my parents threw a big New Years party for all their friends, we had a huge bonfire of Christmas trees and danced around with kites and noise makers celebrating the new Millennium. That night I watched my dad burn his manuscript, it had been turned in and would soon be published but to my ten year old eyes I watched him burn the thing that had kept him occupied my whole life, seemingly throwing away all his work. As we watched the pages curl and burn in the fire I remember most the joy on his face, the release of what had been consuming him for so many years. It was that night I think that I first learned the intertwining of joy and anxiety and total consumption that work can have and that it can all be let go, that you are not defined by your work or your accomplishments but instead by how you celebrate and love others.
When you were sad or scared as a child, what helped?
I grew up in the country, surrounded by woods and ponds and little creeks with crawdads in them. Whenever I was scared or sad as a kid I retreated to my wilderness, running to nature to play with the trees and the newts and little lizards running over the leaves. Even then I would play in mud and make potions and little pots for my potions, the earth has been my constant companion.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
With AI. From the way it is changing peoples brains, being integrated into our every day, and using up all the water. Hell no.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Nothing, I would just do more of everything. I think that says a lot about how much I love working with clay and teaching, I would just keep going making cooler and bigger things.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.piedmontclayworks.com
- Instagram: @piedmontclayworks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piedmontclayworks
