b. 1983
Based in Los Angeles, CaliforniaEducation
MFA, York University, Toronto, Canada, 2014
BFA, Fiber and Material Studies, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2008
BA, Painting and Drawing, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY, 2006Solo Exhibitions
2016 Cloth Dripping, Xpace Gallery, Toronto, ON
2015 Sung From the Mouth of Cumae, Art Gallery of Mississauga (XIT-RM), Mississauga, ON
2014 Of Becoming, Special Projects Gallery, York University Toronto, ON
2013 Metamorphosis, Gales Gallery, York University, Toronto, ON
2010 She Speaks Softly, Three Birds Gallery, Chicago, IL
2009 Native Origins, Artcroft, Carlisle, KY
2007 Process of Being, Café Macchiato, Newburgh, NYGroup Exhibitions
2019 Detours Et Derives, A Linen Biennale, Quebec, Canada
2019 Into the Threshold, Into the Hum, Glass Rice Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 Static Activity, Foyer gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 The Indigo Show, curated by Holly Bobsuthi, RecSpec Gallery, Austin, Texas
2017 _Lo / Wave, curated by Justin Hopkins, Noh / Wave Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Afterimage, curated by Katie Bruce and Phoebe Todd-Parrish, Toronto, ON
2016 Loose Ends, curated by Noa Bronstein, Typology, Artscape Youngplace, Toronto, ON
2015 Escape Plans, curated by Marjan Verstappen, Younger Than Beyonce Gallery, Toronto, ON
2015 On the Crown of a Cusp, curated by Arianne Di Nardo, Love Art Fair, Direct Energy Centre, Toronto, ON
2015 Long Winter, The Great Hall, Toronto, ON
2014 World of Threads, Queen Elizabeth Park Community & Cultural Centre, Oakville, ON
2014 Refined Linen, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, ON
2014 Intersections 2014: Thinking|Feeling, Cross Sections, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON
2014 Art @ Suite 500, Miles S. Nadal Management Centre, Toronto, ON
2014 to tell of things changed, p | m Gallery, Toronto, ON
2013 Warp and Weft: A Collaboration With Zoe Heyn-Jones, Special Projects Gallery, Toronto, ON
2013 Proem, York University Gales Gallery, Toronto, ON
2013 Art Spin, Tower Automotive Building, Toronto, ON
2012 Gradients, York University Gales Gallery, Toronto, ON
2011 Unresolved, Cellspace, San Francisco, CA
2010 Nature vs Machine, Three Birds Gallery Chicago, IL
2008 Interface, Brickermade Gallery, Chicago, IL
2008 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago BFA Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
2008 Department Store, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
2006 Mary Grisey & Philip Deyman, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2006 Undergraduate Exhibition, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2005 Undergraduate Exhibition, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NYLectures and Academic Presentations
2018 Artist Talk, International Women's Day Panel, Goldenwest College, Huntington Beach, CA
2015 Artist Talk, Mary Grisey: Sung From the Mouth of Cumae, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
2015 Panel Discussion, Why Women Thrive in the Arts, Love Art Fair, Direct Energy Centre, Toronto, ON
2014 Artist talk, Université du Québec à Montréal, MFA graduate student exchange, Montréal, QC
2014 Artist talk, Intersections 2014: Thinking|Feeling, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON
2014 Artist talk, Feminist Art Conference, OCADU, Toronto, ONPublications and Press
2022 Arte Morbida Interview
2018 Artist Decoded Podcast Interview
2017 OtherPeoplesPixels Interview, June 15, 2017
2016 30 Second Film Artists Interview, June 1, 2016
2016 Canthius Literary Journal, Spring-Summer 2016, issue 02
2016 Cloth Dripping, Exhibition Essay by Mary Ma
2016 Akimblog, Review of Cloth Dripping and Vulgar Era by Terrence Dick
2016 Loose Ends, Exhibition Catalogue
2016 Art Toronto: Loose Ends at Typology Projects
2016 Canadian Art: Inside Mary Grisey's Toronto Studio
2016 The Kit Compact, Spirited Away, February Issue, by Alex Laws
2015 Normale Magazine Interview
2015 Sung From the Mouth of Cumae Exhibition Essay, curatorial statement by Kendra Ainsworth
2015 Mississauga News
2015 The Medium
2015 Venison Magazine Interview
2015 Here & There Magazine Interview
2015 Steadfast Arte Magazine Interview
2015 NOW Toronto
2015 Love Art Fair Blog
2014 Of Becoming, Ruin Issue, Drain: A Journal of Contemporary Art and Culture
2014 Must-Sees This Week: April 10-16, 2014, Toronto and Area, Canadian Art
2014 World of Threads Fibre Interview
2014 On Becoming and Other Things, curatorial essay by Natasha Chaykowski
2014 Inspiration Board: Mary Grisey, Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
2014 On Transformation, York University MFA Exhibition Catalogue, essay by Natasha ChaykowskiDistinctions, Awards, Residencies
2016 Samuel Sarick Purchase Award, York University
2016 Windgate full fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2014 Artist in Residence with Artist Grant, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2014 The Drake Lab: Akin Collective Studio Residency, Toronto, ON
2012-2014 York University International Scholarship
2012-2014 York University Graduate Scholarship
2009 Artist in Residence, Artcroft, Carlisle, KY
2008 SAIC Advanced Fiber and Material Studies
2007-2008 SAIC Merit Scholarship Award
2007 SAIC Incentive Scholarship
2006 Dean’s List, Marist CollegeBio
Mary Grisey is a textile installation artist and psychic medium based in Los Angeles. She has exhibited her work across the United States and Canada including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Quebec. Her art practice bridges the connection between the physical and the metaphysical and utilizes her psychic downloads as direct inspiration for her work.
Artist Statement
How do we understand, connect with and react to traces of the metaphysical? My work is about becoming, a process that encompasses both doing and undoing; energy goes into my materials and then there is a natural or simulated process of destruction. Transformation is central to my practice: a metamorphosis that reveals the ruin and beauty of both the body and the psyche. With the intention of revealing layers and residual deterioration, I unravel, scratch, burn and peel parts of the work. I use many natural materials in my practice—particularly linen, sisal rope and dye—which exude a distinct smell and permeate the senses before the demanding visuality commands attention. This address to the olfactory helps to create an active environment rather than a static installation. My works, unlike the products of conventional fiber practices, bear traces of my hand—bits of imperfect or unfinished warp and weft—and the inexact results of hand-dyeing. Parts of the work are undone, unmade and unraveled, lending credence to their indeterminate nature. While the process of weaving, in its demanding repetition and methodical rhythm, is a contemplative endeavor typically exact in execution, the ruinous state of these works points to my interest in the limits of the physical and preoccupation with the ethereal.
I am fascinated by the connection between the physical and metaphysical, and, in this vein, I take ancient mythology, metamorphosis, ruination and entropy as inspirations in my work. Like ruins, my works are remnants of what was once whole; they are inscribed with traces of their previous life, death endured and the hereafter. My works embody these remnants that prefigure thought and feeling.