Click here for information about Katherine Gray's August 2008 exhibition at the Daniel Kany Gallery:
"Katherine Gray's recent work made me think of... glass as historical material, as part of sumptuous display, as scintillating and visually groovy, as sparkling and glossy and honey on the eyes," said then Glass Quarterly magazine Editor James Yood.
Yood's tone nails Gray's sculptural work beyond the blink of the viewer's eye. A black egg: impenetrable. Empty bowls nesting Wonder Bread logos - our own vacuous memories of the 1970s, maybe? And where does the term "groovy" belong, if anywhere? We might cluck and chuckle to ourselves, yet Gray reminds us of the adolescence and maturation of the Studio Glass Movement. Those critical years, she notes, are not so far behind us - and, further, well distant from an aesthetic moment highlighted by Carlo Scarpa or the heights of Venini. Maybe, she reminds us: the Brady Bunch. The Wonder Years - and not the remake.
Combining wit with wisdom beyond her years (though not so young compared to her spirit), Gray reminds us not only of the historical quirks and vicissitudes of the Studio Glass Movement, but of her standing as an author and thinker as well as an artist. A talented hand, she hints, is nothing without a talented mind. She reflects well on her colleagues and friends: a sharply articulate bright spot in a part of the world that others would pretend is only populated with apologists and mere artisans. Gray is an artist among artists and proud to stand with her colleagues, friends and heroes.
Katherine Gray received her undergraduate degree from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, and her MFA from RISD. She has been the recipient of numerous residencies and fellowships, and her work has been exhibited internationally in many group and solo shows. Gray's work is included in the collection of the Corning Museum of Glass and the Museum of American Glass. She has taught across North America as well as in France, Australia, Japan and elsewhere. She lives and works in Los Angeles, where she is a lecturer at the California State University at San Bernardino.
