Julia Hechtman is a multi-media artist and professor living in Boston. Her artwork focuses on the tensions between what we know and what we think we know. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Iceland in 2019 and an American Scandinavian Foundation Grantee to Iceland in 2023. The natural world features prominently in her work and enables her to travel to remote and isolated locations. She began her investigation into ceramic sculpture after returning from an artist residency in Iceland in the summer of 2022. During that time, she encountered numerous seabirds lost to avian flu. One in particular, a Northern Gannet, moved her deeply. Having never had the opportunity to closely observe a gannet in its natural environment at sea, the experience offered both insight and a sense of mystery that continues to inform her work. Since then, she has been developing Spirit Birds, creating more than 400 individual pieces to date.