Artist Julie Ueland lives and works in The Northwest. She began drawing and painting at the age of 10. She was guided by Gloria Jasper, a British impressionist. Having that entrepreneurial spirit from childhood made her to start mural painting enterprise at age 13. This provided her with steady work and money to spend through high school. Julie attended Pacific Lutheran University where she majored in psychology and secondary art education. While at the university, she launched a small business from her room in the hostel where she created hand painted personalized tee shirts and cards for fellow students. After graduation she taught ceramics, painting and drawing at Bethel High School in Tacoma, WA. She also began a home-based jewelry business which quickly grew to employ her students in an effort to get the orders out the door.
In 1985 her Arts was officially incorporated, taking her out of the classroom and into the fashion accessories marketplace fulltime. Manufacturing, designing, marketing and employing up to fifty employees at a time, she was in her element designing belts, jewelry, hair accessories and handbags for retailers including Nordstrom and Macy’s, and other major department stores. In 1991, Julie and her family moved to Columbia River Gorge where she felt the call to start a new venture related to art. She started a custom tile company called Backsplash that mutated to a ceramic tableware studio where she created Fish On dishes and accessories. Her designs caught the eye of Enesco’s art director and that’s how her licensing career began.
