Dharma Strasser MacColl
Dharma Strasser MacColl explores a variety of mediums to create mixed media works on paper and ceramic sculpture. Her most recent work investigates the intersections between our built and natural world.
"My practice embraces themes of human connection and our desire to seek meaning through patterns in nature," says the artist. "With a dedication to drawing and painting in three dimensions, I incorporate ceramics, paper, thread and gouache to create tactile works on paper and sculptural wall installations. Each piece subtly subverts: white porcelain is meticulously hand dyed with pigment to create a painter’s palette of colorful clay bodies, paper is pieced and hand sewn like fabric, and tiny porcelain dot patterns on paper reveal a subtly sculptural relief. Each medium is interwoven and in service to creating a larger whole.
My materials-based practice focuses on the slow and rhythmic accumulation and application of hand formed parts, resulting in work that is very precise while also presenting the tiny irregularities of the hand. Humans have historically drawn inspiration from nature's geometric patterns to both understand and represent natural phenomena. From the hexagonal cells of a honeycomb to the grid of a spider web, it’s our human tendency to co-op these structures in order find meaning in the seemingly chaotic world.
Outside my Sausalito studio there are remnants of giant anchor chain used for WWII ship building. This inspired me to add a new narrative thread to this ubiquitous form. By imbuing the chain shape with gradating color and multiplicity, the links tell a story of interconnection and community. Each hand rolled and attached link is dependent on the next for it’s physical structure, and when multiplied creates a larger community. Even from a very young age I collected tiny objects and organized them, attempting to make sense of my awe and wonder in our natural world. It is this impetus, felt daily, that compels me to participate in a habitual building of objects that reveal themselves to be relational and also deeply rooted in our human desire to make visual sense of our ever-changing world."
Strasser MacColl grew up in Portland, Oregon. She studied painting and drawing in Italy, and later went on to receive her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in ceramic sculpture. She has taught at Mills College, California College of the Arts, and City College of San Francisco. Her work is included in public and private collections, including The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Berkeley Art Museum, the Fidelity Collection, Microsoft, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Strasser MacColl works in Sausalito and lives in Mill Valley with her husband and three children.
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Cielo IX -
Freefall III
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Long Wave
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Study for Cielo
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Untitled ( small orange chain)
EDUCATION:
1997 Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield, MI, MFA
1993 Beloit College, Beloit, WI, BA
1992 Lorenzo de’Medici, Florence, Italy
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Forthcoming Show, Maybaum Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2025 Intersection, Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA
2024 Infinite Thread, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2022 Lucent, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2019 New Work, Muriel Guepin Gallery, New York, NY
2018 Roam, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2015 Adaptations, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2013 Interlace, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2012 SPIN, Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2011 Emanate, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2010 Invisible Transmissions, Walker Contemporary, Boston, MA.
2007 Growth Patterns, Augen Gallery, Portland, OR.
2005 Migration, Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco, CA.
2005 Suspension, Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2004 Borders, Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2002 New Work, Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2000 Harborage, Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2000 Fragments & Clay Drawings, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
1999 The Space Around Things, Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
1997 Sculptural Ceramic Groupings, Bona Keane Gallery, Portland, OR
1996 New Works, Bona Keane Gallery, Portland, OR
1995 Painterly Ceramics, Bona Keane Gallery, Portland. OR
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2025 Art Miami, Maybaum Gallery, Miami FL
2024 Northern California Open, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Juried
2024 Seattle Art Fair, Traver Gallery, Seattle WA
2024 Annual Group Exibition, Traver Gallery, WA
2023 Material Matters, Geager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
2021 New. Recent, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2019 From the Studio, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2018. Make Your Mark, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA
2017 Cultivated Nature, The Mills Building, San Francisco, CA
2017 Neverending Summer, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA 2016
2016 Plus One, Traywick Contemporary, Berkeley, CA
2016 Suddenly Entire: Eleven Artists Draw, Cannon Gallery, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR
2015 Micro Networks, Muriel Guepin Gallery, New York, NY
2014 Group Exhibition: Gallery Artists, Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
2013 Beyond Borders, Walker Contemporary, Waitsfield, VT
2010 Floral’ GUMP’S San Francisco, CA.
2009 The Pearl Exhibition, GUMP’S, San Francisco, CA.
2008 Intricacies, Soho Myriad, Atlanta, GA.
2007 Artslate, Condon, OR.
2005 Marin Arts Council, Novato, CA.
2004 Women’s Work, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA.
2003 Northern California Clay, NCECA Conference, Town and Country
Convention Center, San Diego, CA
2003 Periphery, Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, CA
2003 18 Women, CCC Art Center Gallery, Astoria, OR
2003 Selections 2003, Artspan, The Mills Building, San Francisco, CA
2002 The Art of Clay: Contemporary West Coast Artists, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA
2002 New Ceramic Horizons, Paradise Ridge Winery, Santa Rosa, CA
2001 Selections, Herbst International Pavilion, Artspan, San Francisco, CA
2001 Containment: Recent Work by Kate Blacklock, Brad Schweiger and 2001 Dharma Strasser, University of Texas at El Paso, TX
2000 Of Now and Future Dreams, Sonoma Museum of Visual Art, Santa Rosa, CA
1999 Ceramics Monthly International Competition, Columbus, OH
1999 Heretofore Unseen, Carmichael Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 5 Installations, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Emerging Artists, Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 Summer Ceramics Exhibition, Nancy Margolis Gallery, Portland, ME
1997 Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, Schneider
1997 Museum of Art, Ashland, OR Curated by Kathryn Kanj
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND LECTURES:
2024 Jealous Curator (artdelivery.com), Danielle Krysa, January 20th
2024 Art Stormer (artstormer.com), Betsy Wills, January 20th
2020. “In the Studio”, zoom presentation and studio tour, Traywick Contemporary
2018 “Dharma MacColl / Studio Visit”, The Studio Work, July 18
2018 Student Reviews visiting artist, Bay School, San Francisco
2016 Visiting Artist, Bay School, San Francisco
2013 “Critic’s Choice,” The East Bay Monthly, Berkeley, CA. March.
2013 “Review: ‘Interlace’ at Traywick Contemporary,” Art Animal, Oakland, CA. January 31.
2013 “Picks: Interlace and Drift,” East Bay Express, Oakland, CA. January 30.
2011 “Double Identity at Traywick Contemporary”, East Bay Express, Oakland, CA. April 13
2009 Critic’s Pick, Boston Globe, December 15
2006 “Dharma Strasser MacColl at Augen Gallery”, Artweek, San Jose, CA. February issue
2005 Review, Artweek, San Jose, CA. February issue
2005 “Ceramic Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes”, The Oregonian, Portland,OR. November 25
2004 “Critic’s Pic.”, The Oregonian, Portland,OR. April 1
2002 “Human Histories: Recent Work by Kate Blacklock and Dharma Strasser”,
2002 Ceramics Monthly, January issue
2002 “A haiku of discrete parts unified”. The Oregonian, Portland, OR. December
2001 Review, Artweek, San Jose, CA. February issue
2000 “Working in Series”, The Oregonian, Portland, OR. December 22
1999 “Finding a Sense of Space”, The Oregonian, Portland, OR. July 16
1999 “Up Front”, Ceramics Monthly, January issue
1998 “Portfolio”, American Craft, October/November issue
1997 “Dharma’s Ascent”, D.K. Row, Willamette Week, Portland, OR. December 10
1997 “Serial Forms, Serious Art”, Jonathan Raymond, The Oregonian, Portland, OR. December 12
1997 “Can-Do Kanjo”, D. K. Row, Willamette Week, Portland, OR. August 27
1997 “Out On a Limb”, Jonathan Raymond, The Oregonian, Portland, OR. August 22
AWARDS
2024 In Cahoots Residency, Petaluma, CA
2023 In Cahoots Residency, Petaluma, CA
2010 Pesky Krumlov Residency, Czech Republic
2005 Marin Arts Council Grant, Novato, CA.
1997 Jaymes B. Leahy Grant May, 1997
1997 Juror’s Award “New Generation: Graduate Student Exhibitions”, Shaw Guido, Pontiac, MI.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
Google, San Francisco, CA
Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Lyndhurst, OH
UCSF Hospital Foundation of Monterey, CA
Chevron Corporation, Richmond, CA
Community Hospital Foundation of Monterey, CA
Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
Four Seasons, Abu Dhabi
Juniper Networks, San Jose, CA
Genentech, San Francisco