Maurisse Gray

After enduring Covid and the chaos of the last two years, we all need a break, especially our guardian angels. I love exploring the interaction of the fly ash in an anagama kiln with porcelain slips, underglazes and shinos. It holds the promise of enlivening and enriching the surface of figurative work while at the same time running the risk of obliterating details. I'm alway striving for that mysterious balance.

Throughout 2021, thoughts of my garden kept my spirit buoyed while I was enduring surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments for breast cancer. I came to understand more deeply that all gardens periodically experience loss, bare spots and voids, rendering the lush colors, sweet smells and soft petals all the more profound. Each spring brings the hopeful promise of renewal. I tried to put all of that hope and some of the loss I felt into this piece.