ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jamie Gray is a mixed media artist living and working in Denver, CO. Her current practice melds abstraction, formalism, and materiality with nature-inspired motifs and a dedication to hand-crafted processes. Gray's organic modern wall sculptures are hand-carved encaustic wax on reclaimed wood.
Recent solo exhibits include “High Desert Homecoming” (Press Release) at Bell Projects, Denver 2023, and “Paper Cosmos Marble Storms” at PEO Foundation Art Gallery, Missouri 2020. Recent juried group exhibitions include The 40th Annual All Colorado Show at Curtis Center for the Arts and Big Draw Colorado at Arvada Center for the Arts, 2023. Previously Gray exhibited in galleries & art festivals across the US & UK; had work commissioned for museum shops in London & Kansas City and hotel collections in NYC & Miami; and sold to collectors in Australia, UAE, England, Europe, and the US. Gray holds a bachelor's and master's degree in design; this foundation deeply underpins her aesthetic choices and creative processes.
ARTIST STATEMENT
"It is said that all life on earth is created from the matter of long-dead stars. Through my art, I'm interested in making contemplative moments for interior spaces that celebrate the beauty of nature.
Growing up at the 8,000-foot base of the Collegiate Peaks in Buena Vista, CO, gave me an inherent love of nature. My artistic practice involves observing the plants and landscape of my upbringing and translating their beauty into large abstract wall sculptures that convey emotions experienced when people connect with, contemplate, and enjoy our natural world — such as calm, quiet, and balance.
My minimal, formalist approach to shapes and composition reveals shared visual connections across various elements — from clouds to cacti, fungi to fossils, lichen to leaves, pine boughs to pebbles and seeds to streams. The repetitive mark-making on the sculpture’s surfaces visualizes my time creating the work and symbolically represents our presence in the environment. As the saying goes, “The path is made by walking.“ Like hiking a trail and placing one foot in front of the other, I mindfully carve one line next to the other.
Jamie's wall sculptures are "an ode to formalism, materiality, the artist’s hand and [...] ask viewers to contemplate the demarcations between painting and sculpture—whether these forms are minimalist paintings on shaped panels or carved sculptures"
– Art Critic, MG Bernard
“Jamie creates paintings that are both geometric and primordial”
– Art Curator, Aurora Garrison
"It appeals to every sense of my nature - the architectural side, the need for calm and visual interest."
– Interior Designer, TVD
“Jamie has created a visual vocabulary that speaks to us of a dreamy other world. Friendly shapes suggestive of natural forms greet you...I want one on my wall to stare at while daydreaming.”
– Gallerist, Vanessa Lacy