Julie Nelson collected pottery for many years, but didn’t begin to make it herself until 1998. Regan Carney of Bay St. Louis,
Mississippi was her teacher. She had the opportunity to share studio space with Joe Bernard of Lacombe, Louisiana, who introduced her to the raku process – she was hooked.
In 2004, Nelson finally completed and set up her own studio. It didn’t have a long life. Hurricane Katrina totaled both her studio and the home that she shared with Tommy Lewis, her long-time partner.
In the chaos following Katrina, her urge to create was enormous. She felt she needed a studio more than she needed a house. Thanks to the Hancock Arts website, only one year after the storm, she was able to reestablish a studio. She was “adopted” by some wonderful people affiliated with the Minnesota Helpers Art Share Program. They provided her with the beginnings of her pottery studio, including a new wheel, fire brick with which to build her raku kiln and the essential clay and tools.
Nelson says of her work, “Having a studio and being able to work on pottery keeps me sane. There’s a light in the darkness.”