REVEREND JOYCE MCDONALD

McDonald began working with clay in 1997 through an art therapy program, shortly after her diagnosis with HIV. She quickly recognized the medium’s potential for healing and transformation. Working intuitively, she allows figures to emerge from the clay, giving form to memories and emotion while processing experiences of addiction, domestic violence, and illness.

An ordained minister, spirituality and service are integral to McDonald’s life and work.

She understands her art as an extension of her ministry, a channel for divinity, compassion, and healing. A self-described testimonial artist, McDonald is open about sharing her own story—“from the shooting gallery to the art gallery”—through her artwork to inspire confidence and dignity in others.

Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald is the first museum exhibition devoted to the artist’s work, bringing together her early sculptures in air-dry clay and found materials with recent glazed ceramics. Inspired by McDonald’s history of repurposing stairs and furniture into display surfaces, her sculptures are presented on stepped pedestals designed by Le Xie. Archival materials provide a nuanced portrait of McDonald’s biography, tracing her upbringing in Brooklyn’s Farragut houses as well as her decades of exhibiting art as an artist member of Visual AIDS.