About

Shay Church is a studio artist based in Kalamazoo MI. His temporary clay installations have included life-size whales and elephants left to fall apart in abandoned buildings, parking lots, outdoor spaces and galleries such as The Cue Foundation in New York, NY, Foster/White Gallery in Seattle, WA, and The Ceramic Research Center in Phoenix, AZ. Shay began his career in clay as an assistant for Jun Kaneko in Omaha NE 2000-2002. Since that time he has received a MFA in Spatial Arts from San Jose State University, was a artist in residence at the Archie Bray Foundation, was awarded a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, taught graduate courses at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, was the Coordinator of the Ceramic Area within the Craft and Material Studies Program at Virginia Commonwealth University from 2009-2011, and was a Visiting Professor of Art and Artist in Residence at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, MI. In 2014 Shay and his wife Maura began a functional pottery in Kalamazoo called Grayling Ceramics which specializes in handmade functional ware for the home and restaurants.