Turning Still: Historical & Contemporary Ceramics by Ian McDonald and Maija Grotell is a celebration of the overlapping dialogue of patterns and textures found within the work of two of The Cranbrook Art Academy’s Artists-in-Residence. The work for Turning Still features all-new work from McDonald and 11 of Grotell’s works on loan from the permanent collection of The Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Through the reference to the architectural details that are rooted in the Cranbrook campus, Ian McDonald finds his current body of work to be in direct conversation with Maija Grotell’s mid-century vessels. While Grotell used these details to adorn her strong and monumental forms with surface pattern, McDonald takes these architectural elements to another level by allowing them to become a dimensional surface.