Julia Ambros
is dreaming of the last red tree in Providence.Ceramics
Sculpture
Mostly Functional
Furniture
Jewelry
Drawings
Textile
About
About
Julia Inés Ambros is a Mexican-American artist & designer working primarily in ceramic and steel. She was born in Athens, OH, raised in San Diego, CA, & now happily lives in Providence, RI. She is currently studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, set to graduate in 2025 with a BFA in Ceramics, with a concentration in Furniture Design.
She is interested in the intersection of sentimentality and logic, the pursuit of sincere objects, and ornament as joyful resistance. Ultimately, present-day Julia is searching for creative challenges without leaving behind her 10 year-old self who made things simply because it made her happy.
Artist Statement
Pulling from the ornamental qualities of the Mexican Baroque and the mundane yet monumental urban furniture found in city landscapes, my work explores the tension between the sentimental and the hyper-logical, framed through a personal mythology shaped by my Mexican-American background.
I see myself as an artist split between right-brain and left-brain – driven by a desire to share my most personal feelings and a compulsive need to dissect and understand every aspect of my identity. On one hand, I’m drawn to processes like drafting and categorization, which form the foundation of my work. These often manifest as rigid systems of construction, such as grids and elaborate internal structures. On the other hand, my lavishly illustrated and decorated surfaces function like journal entries, displaying an accumulation of the emotions and objects that capture my attention in daily life.
My practice balances these modes of making, which are traditionally seen as contradictory and mutually exclusive. I aim for these contradictions to coexist peacefully. Grids lend literal strength to my forms, but they’re also lovingly made pinch-by-pinch. Subjects are placed on pedestals in ways that feel scientific and specimen-like, but also tender and altar-like. My drawings originate from the depths of my personal diary, but they’ve also helped me build a personal mythology for navigating my two cultures. This practice of balancing extends to my materials: ceramics easily captures the more spontaneous and emotional elements of my work, while steel is home to the more rigid and planned aspects.