Today we’d like to introduce you to Abigail Murray.
Hi Abigail, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I am a ceramic artist and have a small production functional ceramics business. I moved to Michigan to attend Cranbrook Academy of Art and received my MFA there in 2005. I spent the next several years, as I did the years prior, making sculpture and installations, participating in residencies, and having exhibitions, but I’d always had what my mentor called “an attachment to function” and always had ideas for utilitarian work in the back of my head. After my son was born, I became focused on those ideas, and a request for dishes from a friend spurred the start of my business. I spent a number of years mostly focused on the slipcast production work, but things are always evolving, and for the past couple years, I’ve been making more and more hand-built one-off things at all sorts of scales from tea cups to furniture.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I work really hard to prioritize my life as much if not more than my work. I haven’t always been good at it, but I work hard at it. And, as it did for everyone, the pandemic/school closures created some struggles. But it was also a chance for me to reset my focus in my work and business, to do less of the production work and explore more. I’m still trying to figure out how all that works, how the business can support the other parts of my work without taking over, but that figuring process feels pretty good right now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
For my production work, I make slipcast porcelain ware with simple forms with found and created textures. I want the work to be useful, beautiful, and at a price point that makes people feel as if they can use it every day and not be precious about it. For my other work, I make pinch pots and ceramic furniture. It’s all the same in my head but looks quite different. I’m excited about the furniture. I made some little tables recently that delighted me.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
It doesn’t feel like it at first, but in the end, hanging what you’re doing is easier than sticking with something that isn’t working.
Contact Info:
- Website: abigail-murray.com
- Instagram: abigailmurraystudio
