Marrying simplicity with function
Elysian Ceramics by Elysia Borowy-reeder is a studio that spans unique and elegant tableware to free-form porcelain and stoneware to stoneware sculptures. She spent last year producing a new series of intensely expressive sculptures and vessels inspired by an Instagram account, ‘It’s a Beautiful Day in Detroit’.
She often works on five or six sculptures/vessels at a time, building, drying, firing, and glazing them over many weeks. Each is different, and they all have their own little soul, all the works in this series were all shaped by hand. Her art echoes the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi — “finding perfection in the imperfect. ”
“My work is about being present”, she says.
Elysian Ceramics By Elysia Borowy
ABOUT ELYSIA BOROWY
Elysia Borowy is an independent curator and nonprofit arts leader with three decades of experience working with esteemed international institutions and galleries and a diverse roster of blue-chip and mid-career/ emerging artists.
From 2012-2020, Borowy led the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit as executive director and chief curator, during which the museum achieved an operating surplus and a record number of annual visitors. She previously held senior positions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Borowy has spearheaded groundbreaking exhibitions that have been reviewed by Artforum, The New York Times, Paper Magazine, the Village Voice, and others. Some past projects include solo shows devoted to artists including KAWS, Arthur Jafa, Sadie Laska, Richard Prince, Dara Friedman, and Sanford Biggers.
Recent projects include Brigitte D’Annibale’s B=f(P, E) — a long-term immersive site in Malibu that has been reviewed by Artnet and other publications, and Femme F(r)iction at the Academy Mansion in New York, an exhibition realized with C1760 celebrating the work of over 50 historic and contemporary women artists.
Throughout her career, Borowy has served on professional panels and advisory committees such as the NEA and the Detroit Advisory Panel for the US Pavilion Venice Architecture Pavilion. She has also served as a visiting faculty member, guest lecturer and instructor, including at Columbia College’s Department of Arts, Entertainment and Media Management in Chicago.
Borowy holds a Master of Art History and Master of Art Education from Michigan State University and has completed multiple nonprofit management certificate programs at the Yale School of Management and the Harvard School of Business. She attended Antioch College as an undergrad and was a Getty Fellow in 2008.
Borowy is currently based in Detroit.