Grace Hartley 2026

Abstract

The pieces you see here, the fragments of the relic, are all stories. Stories of love and home, memories of people, small moments that led to other small moments that led to my hands forming one shape or another in clay. The three fragments, vessel, lake, and breath, all come together to form an intimate place for quiet reflection. First, a vessel, explores my relationship with material and form. The word vessel is one of expansion, holding meaning and symbol: it can refer to people, women, boats, crockery, and veins. I find myself asking is everything in fact a vessel? A lake, the second fragment, explores the generational links of holding and place. Memories of growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan have led to the inclusion of cycling lake water and time. Now I ask what does it mean to hold and be held? Lastly, a breath, explores the reverence and relationships, the tensions, the chains that hold and bind, and how everything is connected. Here I ask what if where I am now is the same as where I came from? Together, the three fragments form a whole. A relic of my hands (vessel), body (lake), and heart (breath).