Window Gallery:
Piles of Dirt
Grace Boyd
June 6 – July 25 | 2026
Photo Credit: Grace Boyd 
Piles of Dirt is a gathering of vessels made in celebration of “being here”. The here may change, the place may not always be the same but there is always dirt beneath our feet, in our bones and bodies. These vessels show each and every finger mark it took to make them, not just as a marker of labor but as a memory of the body-to-body connection of maker and material. Boyd’s greater body of works is made in her relentless pursuit to connect person, place and object and further redefine what those terms may mean in relation to her work.
The vessels of “Piles of Dirt” are reflective and interpreted of shoulders, bellies, waists, breasts, creases… all parts of bodies in nature. The surfaces of these vessels are made up of Earth, rock, clay, ash and water from the places that have become familiar through time spent.
Grace Boyd (she/her) is an actively practicing, emerging BIPOC ceramic and land-based
maker; she holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba and an MFA from NSCAD.
Her early life was lived mostly outdoors experiencing the natural environment that
surrounded her sparking curiosity that shaped her identity and making practice. Boyd’s
desire to connect and understand the ecosystem of the everyday worlds we experience
and build around ourselves drew her to handmade ceramic objects of everyday ritual
and the nature in which they are made. As a potter Boyd is in constant curiosity of the
nature of clay and how the maker and material respond to each other. She creates
Morphogenicly, working from within the materials in her hands, through the emergent
connective nature of working with clay and her body. The act of care and giving care
influences the forms made, objects for the act of caring for other, self, place and
environment. In her practice and research Boyd is not seeking to circumnavigate or map
make of the environment of these sensitive eco systems and object making practices,
but instead, to dwell, thrive and understand from within.
