Julie Oh
When you see artist Julie Oh at a pottery wheel at LSPS-LC, it’s not unusual to observe the same piece being created over and over again. This approach to the tactile art form is exactly how she looks at life. Practice, don’t give up and succeed.
Oh (born in Seoul, Korea 1975) moved to the Chicago area in 1983 with her mother and siblings to be closer to extended family. Her mother, a teacher, wasn’t able to apply her degree to work in the US. With some ingenuity and a lot of drive, she worked in garment shops, helping make samples for big stores like Lord and Taylor. Ultimately, she opened up her own dry cleaning and alterations business, and this is where Julie spent a lot of time after school.
Observing and reading has been the way that Oh picked up any activity she found fascinating. Just watching her mother sew set up a lifetime curiosity for arts and crafts. Her new found skills around sewing not only helped her mother and her shop, but propelled her into recreating vintage-inspired clothing patterns for children. The pieces she creates pop up on hydroxide.etsy.com from time to time (she has a lot of original work but not enough time to post everything). Currently she’s been using her skills assisting brides on their big day. Alterations, dressing and problem solving during some of the area’s most lavish weddings keep her busy and challenged most Saturdays.
Oh graduated with a degree in biology and chemistry along with a minor in women’s studies from Loyola in 1998. Her plan was to take a little break and then start working towards a medical degree, but the Peace Corps caught her interest instead. She joined and spent a year teaching first grade girls in a small town school by the Annapurna mountain range. In the time she spent there she advocated for the students, who were not allowed to ask questions or do anything other than listen to books read aloud by the teachers. She made lesson plans that she hoped would spark joy and interest in the young children, and planned fun things for them every day after school. Some of the children had backgrounds as indentured servants and lived in extreme poverty, and she hoped her time there gave them some lighter moments. At the end of her volunteering (she left after a year due to missing her own family), she decided she wanted to live her life more openly, and to not be tied down. Medical school no longer held her interest.
Over the next few years Oh worked in labs, was a flight attendant and even had an internship in costume design (her dream), but ultimately took over the family business. She owned and successfully ran her mother’s shop for nearly two decades, as well as getting married and having two girls. Even with a life filled with work and family obligations, Oh managed to always tap into her creative side. Her mind continuously looks for challenges and adventure, and she makes sure to follow her curiosity to keep things interesting. Baking (a big passion of hers), photography, embroidery, crochet, jewelry and wood working are all self-taught and applied to her versatile life.
Back in 2008, Oh attended Lincoln Square Pottery Studio - Learning Center for a few sessions of pottery making. She joined Ramona Zak (her friend from college) and took a liking to the social and community-based aspect of the studio. She spent a good deal of time on the wheel during the beginner’s class, but life got in the way and she stopped. She kept in touch with Meg Biddle (the studio’s owner) through social media, and hoped to get back to it some day.
After the pandemic hit in 2020, Oh spent a lot of time at home (like post people across the US). She took a keen interest in cultivating plants, especially the Monstera, whose giant deep-green leaves made her home more cozy and lush. A lack of planters and an itch to do something creative catapulted her back to LSPS-LC after it reopened later that year. Her 14-year-old daughter joined her, and the two of them took to wheel throwing. Both were often at the studio during that remote-learning year, and after her daughter returned to her school, she became the teacher’s assistant in the ceramics program!
Oh decided to approach pottery making in the same way she’s approached all the other things that have inspired her in life; by practicing the heck out of it. It’s not unusual to see her bent over the wheel on a Monday night, recreating the same bowl, cup or handle (those pesky things) over and over again. This path has paid off, as her work keeps getting lighter, more consistent and imaginative. The art form has also made her slow down a bit. She can zip through a sewing project quickly, completing it within the same day even. Clay can’t be rushed (it takes weeks to get things trimmed, dry and done) and this has reality made Oh slow down, refocus as well as calming her very active mind.
Glazing is not her forte (yet!), but she’s taken that on with optimism and her own sense of style. Glaze colors inspired by her vintage obsession (think Mid-Century Modern vibes) have been gracing the surfaces. Her unique choices in hues make it easy to spot her work once it’s out of the glaze kiln. Monstera leaf inspired platters and planters (along with landscape-like surface treatments) are directly linked to her connection to nature. She’s in love with the birch tree inspired vessels by studio volunteer Ann Cibulskis, as well as directly drawing from her own nature treks. Her honeymoon adventure included hiking up to the Mt. Everest base camp. The journey in took 20 days alone with their Sherpa guide, and we can’t help but think this time might have some influence on her designs. The soft and organic curves of her work really reflect the earth.
Oh’s resolution in the pottery studio is to make her pieces bigger and lighter. She’ll continue her drive to perfect her own style, as well as make her pieces more uniform to each other. Trying different clays (especially the red earth ware), expanding her glaze choices and overall pushing herself and the medium is what she’s excited about. She considers the studio and this new art form a creative blessing, and hopes to continue it for a long time.