Trackside Studio Ceramic Art Gallery is showcasing the ceramic work of artist Julie Smetana for the month of June. Titled “Unattached”, this exhibit, part of Spokane Arts Annual “Queer Art Walk, opens First Friday, June 2nd, 5 - 8 pm and Saturday, June 3rd, noon - 4 pm. It continues through June with regular Gallery hours Wednesday through Friday, 11 AM - 5 PM.

“Unattached"

Julie Smetana is a multidisciplinary ceramic artist and graphic designer based in Spokane, WA. She has a deep passion for creating art that pushes boundaries and challenges norms. She strives to create pieces that evoke liberation and encourage viewers to embrace discomfort.

Julie produced a large body of work over the last six months as an artist in the Spokane Public Library’s Hive Artist Residency program. The space and time allowed her to push her sculptural work further and explore new ideas and possibilities. Her approach to this series of sculptures explores letting go of control and expectations through reductive carving and the precarious stacking of pre-formed shapes.

“Reductive carving and free-form stacking let the clay speak. It takes whatever plan you have, whatever you envision for the piece, and throws most of it out. Ultimately, a wall will crack, you’ll carve too deep, an edge will break, the stack will fall; you’ll constantly have to adjust your original vision. The bottle isn’t a bottle anymore; the tall cylinder is suddenly a bowl, or the large undulating shape becomes two flat shapes. Molding the clay this way results in a fired piece that is a little beat up but beautifully authentic, free, and unattached from expectations—a representation for where, as a human, I know I’d like to be.”