Artist Statement
5 components that come together to create different textures, colors, weights, shapes. With clay, the combinations are endless, as are the challenges. Working with clay is like life: you have to pursue your passions, be in tune with your surroundings, relish the unexpected, appreciate the little things, and love what you are doing each minute.
-- Kris Marubayashi
Bio
Kris Marubayashi is a sansei (third generation Japanese American) born and raised in New York and now based in Sacramento, Calif. She hails from a family of artists, which include her building and landscape architect father who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright and her mother who was trained in decorative arts.
She first took up clay work in the 1970s and received her B.A. in studio art at San Francisco State University where she studied under American ceramic artist David Kuraoka. Then she took a 30-year break to pursue other interests, family and a career in education administration. In 2005 she felt the calling again and established a studio in her Sacramento home. In 2012 she began showing her work at shows and in studios.
Marubayashi’s uses a mid-fire clay (cone 4-6) to create free-form sculptures. tiles, and caldera structural forms. Much of her work is in a highly textural style resembling rocks and geographic formations. She is also exploring other materials, including concrete (because it is strong and enables the creation of large pieces) and paper clay, and experimenting with using various additives.
She regularly displays at several shows per year in addition to having an annual open studio at her home. Over the past few years she has become a regular at the largest juried craft show on the West Coast, the American Craft Council (ACC) show held at Fort Mason in San Francisco. In 2013, 2014, and 2016 Marubayashi was one of nine artists selected to display in a designer created mini-room at the ACC.
She is a member of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and the Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California (ACGA). Her work can be seen at the Abrams Claghorn Gallery in Albany, CA, Ren Brown Collection Gallery in Bodega Bay, CA, Desta Gallery in San Anselmo, CA, The Gardener in Berkeley, CA, and the Kobo Gallery in Seattle, WA.