Canadian artist, Paula Murray studied science at the University of Ottawa, ceramics at Sheridan College and completed two residencies at The Banff Centre before launching a successful career. Living in Gatineau Park, she has maintained a full-time studio practice since opening her first studio in 1980. Elected to the International Academy of Ceramics (2017), she has received multiple creation grants and awards for her distinctive work.

Impelling the Development of Consciousness

Inspiration is drawn from her close relationship with nature, and the years spent sailing between Canada and South America raising her two children. Her discovery of the Baha’i Faith and ongoing study of spiritual writings inspire many of the themes explored in her work.

Her work includes both discrete objects and installations. Transformation is at the heart of Paula Murray’s practice. Porcelain is an ideally responsive material for exploring her themes of trauma/ resilience, control/ submission, and the dynamism of the visible/invisible. She is interested in forces both mysterious and obvious that shape us as individuals and the societies we live in.

In coming to Jingdezhen, words from the Baha’i Writings “The Earth is one country, and mankind its citizens” were in mind. Through the shared language of ceramics, she explores what unites us as members of the human family. The movement and cracking result from years of personal research, exploiting the elemental qualities of ceramic materials and processes. In creating these works she is concerned with personal agency, free will and how we respond and engage with the injury of experience - within, with each other.