MFA 2025 Artists MFA 2025 Artists: Marilyn Perry

About Marilyn Perry

Marilyn Perry is a ceramics and handmade paper artist based in Oregon. Her sculptures and installations are inspired by her connection to the less-touched landscapes of Northern Canada, her country of origin. She earned a BA from the University of British Columbia, an MA in Counseling Psychology from Gonzaga University, Washington and is currently an MFA candidate in Ceramics at the UMass Dartmouth. Perry’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including NCECA 2022, Sacramento, CA; Anderson Ranch, Aspen, CO; Verum Ultimum, Portland, OR; and the Oodori Museum, Sapporo, Japan.

Statement

My ceramic and handmade paper sculptures and installations explore the dynamic northern landscapes and how they change - both rapidly and over eons. Each evokes a sense of impermanence, wonder, and interconnectedness inspired by icy geological forms - glaciers, ice fields, and mountains - that are repositories of memory. My works frame the rhythms and moments of cyclical change, and hold the paradox of loss and beauty. The architectural language of churches provides a complementary framework that offers spaces of reverence, reflection, and meditation. A hallmark of my work is the integration of concept and materiality. The resonance of tactile hand processes of ceramics and paper are both methods of cyclical transformation that echo snow and ice formation. I combine traditional techniques with innovative approaches, highlighting erosion and loss and encouraging emotional engagement. By blending the scales of deep geological time and momentary glimpses of future time, I hope viewers will fully experience the present. In contemplation of the present, there exists an opportunity to leave an ‘out there’ sense of nature’s wilderness and allow a kinship with a world beyond delicate humanness.

@marilyn.perry.ceramics

Marilyn Perry

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