Biography

Julia C R Gray, is a native California artist who sculpts ceramic torsos with rich layers of form, texture and painted narrative imagery. Her artwork portrays multilayered messages, starting with vulnerability of the oceans and our bodies, balanced with the dialectic message of the power of the oceans and the strength of women’s bodies. Gray’s artwork also comments on contemporary life, personal experience and consciousness of nature. Gray’s work is informed by Master Women Artists such as Modern sculptor Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975), Renaissance artists: Artemisia Gentileschi (1596-1654), and Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614)


Gray worked as a representational painter from 1980 to 2010, creating murals and oil paintings, until she returned to University to study sculpture. She completed a BFA with Honors, in 2014, from San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). Gray studied abroad in Argentina, through SFAI. She has been awarded scholarships and art grants from SFAI and Davis Projects for Peace for art and environmental work in Bali, Indonesia.


Gray’s artwork is featured on the cover of Modified: Living as a Cyborg and published in the Biotechnology book: The Posthuman Condition: Ethics, Aesthetics & Politics of Biotechnological Challenges. Selected art exhibitions include The California Clay Competition, Davis, CA, Oceanside Museum of Art, CA, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, CA, The American Museum of Ceramics, Pomona, CA, CSU Dominguez Hills, Los Angeles, CA, The Atheneum Arts and Music Library, La Jolla, CA, and the Women’s Museum of California, San Diego, CA. Gray partnered with San Diego River Park Foundation to create a Public Art mural depicting the river and its native animal species.


Julia C R Gray works from her home studio in Cardiff by the Sea, California. Her daily art practice includes photographing sunrise beach walks and bringing revelations from her ritual into the ceramic studio.